Manti – Traditional Turkish Dumplings

The measures are approximate, as the water-flour ratio will change depending on the type of flour, and how old the flour is.

1. For the filling, mix the ground meat, salt and black pepper. Set aside.

2. For the dough, mix flour, salt and egg.

3. Add the water gradually to form a soft dough (not sticky or not stiff) and knead for 5-10 minutes until it all comes together.

4. Divide the dough in 5 equal pieces. Rest the dough for 20 minutes.

5. Knead one piece of the dough into a ball and roll it out to the 2-mm thickness (about 0.08 inches). Make sure you flour the surface well when you are rolling it out. If the dough is sticky, knead it with flour first. Also, the dough should not be stiff as it will be hard to roll it out in one piece. It should be “earlobe consistency.” (In Turkey, this is a very typical way of describing how the dough should feel when it is done right. Just hope that everybody’s earlobe consistency is the same!)

5. Cut the rolled out dough in 1/2-inch or 1-inch squares. Place approximately 1/4 teaspoon (for 1/2-inch square) or 1/2 teaspoon (for 1-inch square) of ground meat in the middle of each square. Don’t worry if your squares are not perfect. Combine the leftover dough pieces together to make a square or rectangle. You can adjust the meat amount depending on how big your square is.

6. Close the two sides of the square together to make a little boat-like dumpling. Place them on a greased baking dish with high walls, at least 1-1/2 inches. (For me, the dough made enough manti to fill two 14-inch deep dish pizza pans.) Start from the outer edge and work your way towards the center.

7. Bake them in a preheated 350ºF oven for about 30- 40 minutes, or until the manti starts browning on top. You do not want to leave it in the oven too long, then it will be way too crunchy even after the second baking.

8. For the second baking, melt the unsalted butter in the water in a pan and bring it to a boil.

9. Pour the boiling water-butter mixture equally over the baking trays and return them to the oven.

10. Cook for another 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is gone. It will probably be done before all the liquid is gone. Test it for doneness after 15-20 minutes.

11. To prepare for serving, mix the garlic and yogurt together in a bowl.

12. Melt the butter in a little pan and add paprika and crushed red pepper.

13. Serve manti with garlic-yogurt, drizzled with paprika butter. Garnish with dried mint.