How to make juicy and tasty minced meat for manti: recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

First, a few words about the dish itself. After all, few of today's young housewives have an idea of \u200b\u200bwhat manti are. And this dish made from meat dough is a kind of dumplings. It refers to the traditional oriental, or rather Asian, cuisine. It is prepared in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. Its analogies exist in the Kazakh national cuisine. A similar treat exists among the Siberian peoples. Yes, and in Mongolia, Korea, China, it is also served not only at home dinners, but also in large restaurants or modest food stalls.

Manti and dumplings

From the first time, few people succeed in preparing a dish the way it should ideally be. There are many subtleties and nuances here. The whole process consists of three “operations”: knead the dough correctly, prepare minced meat for manti and boil them. What are the main differences between food and dumplings familiar to us? Firstly, they are much larger than small, neat “bear ears” (the second name for dumplings). Secondly,they are not boiled in water, but steamed, in a water bath. And, thirdly, minced meat for manti is made very specific.

Cooking technology

The most important thing for a "right" dish is a special pot for boiling. It is called accordingly: “manti-kaskane”. Of course, not every hostess has one. But this does not mean that you should abandon the idea of \u200b\u200bpreparing a treat and surprising your relatives with it. Well, if you made minced meat for manti, kneaded the dough and twisted the products themselves, then you should take the largest pan, put a deep plate or dish in it, oil the bottom, put the molded “meat dumplings” in it, cover with another plate, pour into the pan a little water, cover with a lid and put on a small fire. It looks a bit complicated, of course. But this is until the hostess adapts. And then the stuffing for manti will turn out “as it should”, and they themselves - at least send them to a culinary exhibition!

Classic dough recipe

Having examined the basic provisions of the theory, let's get down to practice. Let's start with a test. Take 500 g of flour, half a glass of water, about a spoonful of s alt and an egg. Knead the products into a cool elastic dough. Why exactly? Because the filling is placed on very thinly rolled pieces, and it is important that they do not tear. Yes, and in the process of cooking so that they do not stick out, do not spread. Roll the resulting dough into a ball, cover and let it rest, “rest”. Then cut small cakes from the main piece,knead, roll into layers a millimeter thick, cut large squares out of them, about 10 x 10. In the meantime, the dough is infused, you can also prepare minced meat for manti (see the recipe below).

Classic recipe for minced meat

Traditionally it is made from lamb or sheep meat. Also, as an important component, it includes lard or tail fat (it grows in these animals in the area of \u200b\u200bthe tail vertebrae). Plus a wide variety of condiments. Thus, to make minced meat for manti, the recipe recommends: finely chop half a kilogram of onion, also cut 1 kilogram of meat into small pieces. If not cut, then pass through a meat grinder with a large grate. This, by the way, is also the difference between manti and dumplings: in those, the minced meat is well crushed into a homogeneous mass. Now fat: take about 150 grams and chop finely too. Why approximately: you may need more of it, because both the filling and the greasy piece are placed in each “dumpling”. Set the cut aside. In minced meat for manti, the recipe advises, in addition to onions, to generously add pepper and spices: marjoram, coriander, basil. Pour in half a glass of heavily s alted water. This is not required for dumplings. And in this dish, liquid is needed to cook exactly juicy minced meat for manti.

Sculpt, cook, serve

When everything is ready, you can stuff the dough with minced meat. To do this, put the meat in the center of each square, add a piece of bacon and pinch so that the filling does not fall out. Finished goodscover with a napkin and let them stand for 10 minutes. Then cook for 40-45 minutes. They should be served hot, sprinkled with chopped herbs. As a dressing, sour cream, mayonnaise, strong meat broth seasoned with pepper are suitable - to choose from. Add mustard, horseradish and vinegar and pepper slightly diluted with boiled water.

Important clarification

We talked about how to steam manti. However, the process can be speeded up if you do this: heat the oil well in a deep frying pan, put “dumplings” in them, fry until crusty. And then transfer to a plate, place in a saucepan and douse with steam for not 45 minutes, but half as much - 25-20. By the way, in this case, the dish turns out to be much tastier and looks more appetizing.

Varieties of minced meat

Housewives may have a legitimate question: how to make minced meat for manti not from lamb, but from other types of meat? After all, the East, like Asia, is a delicate matter. A European resident may not like the smell of sheep. Yes, and boar pigs or veal are much more familiar. In this case, exotic traditions should be approached creatively. And cook minced pork for manti. Its plus is that such meat is softer than lamb. Choose flesh that is juicier, but with little fat. And separately buy fat. Maybe even s alty. Or smoked - whoever suits you better. And then follow the already familiar algorithm.

Recipe with variations

It is still worth discussing how to cook minced meat for manti not from meat, butvegetables. Yes, this dish can be vegetarian. More precisely, almost. Potatoes, pumpkin, carrots are used as fillings. Or fruits - apples, grapes, quince.

• If the dish is made from pumpkin, take well-ripened, but unsweetened varieties. Cut into slices, peel, then chop each slice into small pieces. Chop a few heads of onion, you can lightly fry it, s alt it. Mix with pumpkin. Separately cut 250-300 g of fat. You can immediately combine it with the filling, or you can report separately in pieces when you start filling the dough with minced meat. Just do not forget about the spices, they are necessary to make the taste of manti more intense, because the pumpkin itself is fresh. And put seasonings for flavor. Be sure to fry before cooking - it will be tastier.
• Potato manti. To make them, you will need one and a half kilograms of root crops, 3-4 large onions, s alt, pepper, spices to taste. Take exactly smoked lard or lard - half a kilo. Peel raw potatoes and cut into small cubes, as for Olivier salad or vinaigrette. Do the same with onions and bacon. If the onion is caustic, pour boiling water over and squeeze out - the bitterness will go away. Mix all the ingredients, add a little s alt, always hot ground pepper. Put the filling in the dough and cook until done. Served with them, as well as with pumpkin manti, sour cream, sour cream sauce. It also tastes great with ketchup or tomato sauce. Ideally, you can make a special one, exactly the same as brewed in Asian countries.

Sauceto mantas

So, tomato sauce, spicy. For him, cut half a kilogram of ripe sweet tomatoes, 3 onions. Fry the onion in a small amount of vegetable oil. Add tomatoes. Simmer over low heat, covered, until the skin begins to separate from the pulp. Then s alt, add chopped hot pepper pod (optional, but the recipe says so), a pinch of dill seeds, a little water. And stew a little more so that the sauce turns out to be of medium consistency. At the very end, add finely chopped marjoram (fresh) and a few cloves of garlic. Add some sugar if you like.