How to cook manti: recipes for making dough and stuffing

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

Manti with minced meat is a dish of Central Asian cuisine, but now it is often cooked in many families of different nationalities. Fragrant and juicy, they are the decoration of any table, perfect for every holiday, not without reason in Kazakh and Uzbek families, manti was prepared for dear guests.

If you have never tried this amazing dish, then such an unfortunate misunderstanding should be corrected today, especially since the cooking process is quite simple.

To understand how to cook manti, it is worth remembering how dumplings are made. They also consist of dough, in which minced meat is wrapped. However, the manti are slightly larger and are steamed.

General cooking principles

Dough is one of the main components, the taste of the dish largely depends on it. It is very important that the mass is thin and soft enough. Many housewives deliberately refuse to cook this dish, fearing how the dough will turn out. In fact, everything is much simpler - you just need to remember a few tricks.

1. To give the dough the desired elasticity, you can add eggs to the main composition. However, it is important not to overdo it here, otherwise the manti will turn out to be “rubber”. One will be enough for 2-3 cups of flour.
2. Long kneading is just what you need for a tight elastic dough. The hostess needs to spend at least 20 minutes on this process.
3. After kneading, the dough must be given time to rest. In general, 15-20 minutes will be enough, but it is better to put it in the refrigerator.
4. How much to cook manti? It depends on the brewing method, the duration varies from 30 to 45 minutes.

Preparing the classic dough

The recipe is based on ordinary cold water, and it is this preparation that is considered classic. The undoubted advantages are the simplicity of the process and the economy. The ingredients needed for dough kneading are sure to be found in every kitchen.

Before you cook manti according to the classic recipe, you need to provide yourself with the following set of products:

• water - 1 cup;
• flour - about 2.5-3 cups (the amount is calculated based on the resulting dough consistency);
• egg - one will be enough;
• s alt is quite an important ingredient, just a pinch will suffice.

The kneading process is quite simple. The dough for classic manti is prepared as follows.

1. Flour is spread on the table in a heap and a small depression is made in it.
2. Pour water into it, break onechicken egg and add s alt.
3. Carefully combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

choux pastry

In terms of taste and cooking speed, such a dough for manti is in no way inferior to the classic one. At the same time, the custard version is ideal not only for meat fillings, but also for vegetarian ones. For example, potato filling will be a great addition to choux pastry.

The list of ingredients for choux pastry includes:

• hot (boiled) water - about 0.5 l;
• vegetable oil (it is better to use in this case not sunflower, but olive oil) - 100 ml;
• flour - about 2 cups;
• s alt - 1 teaspoon.

S alt and vegetable oil are added to boiling water, followed by half the volume of flour. The batter is beaten until all the lumps are dissolved. For this, it is most convenient to use a mixer.

Once the dough has a uniform texture, you can add the rest of the flour and knead it thoroughly.

How to cook manti with milk

Dough kneaded with milk, according to the technology of preparation, is not very different from the classic counterpart on water, but it turns out much softer. To prepare it, you need to stock up:

• milk - 1 glass is enough;
• flour - 2.5–3 cups;
• s alt - 1 pinch.

Milk is brought to a boil, then s alt and 2 cups of flour are poured into it from the entire cooked volume. These ingredients should make a soft dough. Duringkneading from the third glass, gradually add a small amount of flour until the mass becomes sufficiently elastic and tight. At this time, it should easily lag behind the hands and walls of the container.

Classic stuffing

How to cook manti according to the classic recipe? Kneading the dough has already been discussed above, so it's time to start preparing a juicy and incredibly tasty filling. In Asian manti, it consists of a minimum of ingredients:

• meat (mutton) - you need a piece of pulp weighing 1 kg;
• onion - 0.5-1.0 kg;
• tail fat - the volume should not exceed 200–250 g;
• s alt, pepper - to your own taste;
• zira - a pinch.

Important! The amount of onion in real manti should be approximately equal to the amount of meat. This will make the dish especially soft, appetizing and juicy.

For the classic Uzbek manti recipe, meat is not passed through a meat grinder - it must be finely chopped. To do this, the pulp is separated from the bones (if any), as well as from the veins and veins, cut into pieces no larger than a pea. This work is quite painstaking, but it will be fully justified.

It is better to cut fat tail fat even smaller. It will be much more convenient and easier to do this if you hold it in the freezer for a while before starting work.

Onions are also cut as small as possible. All ingredients are combined together in a deep container, s alt and seasonings are added, mixed thoroughly. Before assculpt manti, minced meat should be allowed to stand a little.

minced meat filling

In fact, manti with minced meat is loved by many. Such a dish is not only very tasty and fragrant, but also requires much less time and effort in cooking. Unlike the classic version of the filling (chopped), here the meat is passed through a meat grinder. Onions are also twisted or finely chopped. To prepare manti with minced meat, the recipe may contain types of meat that are preferred in the family.

1. Ground beef. For its manufacture take:

• 0.5 kg meat;
• about 0.2 kg of fat;
• 0.5 kg of onion;
• s alt, black and red pepper, a small pinch of coriander and cumin.

Meat and lard are passed through a meat grinder, finely chopped onion, spices are added, in accordance with the recipe.

2. Minced meat for manti from several types of meat. Some people do not like the taste and smell of lamb, so they can safely use its analogues.

Options include:

• beef + pork;
• lamb + beef;
• chicken meat + tail fat or lard.

Meat stuffing with vegetables

Manti with vegetables will certainly find their admirers, because the dish turns out to be very tasty and fragrant, and thanks to this composition, the filling becomes juicy and literally melts in your mouth.

One of the most common options are steamed manti with pumpkin. To prepare minced meat for them, you need:

• lamb,beef, pork or a mixture of meat - 0.5–0.6 kg;
• fresh pumpkin, seeded and skinned - approximately 0.5 kg;
• medium size onion - 3-4 heads;
• tail fat (you can refuse it if fatty meat is present, such as pork) - 150–200 g;
• some water;
• pepper and s alt to your preference.

The meat is passed through a meat grinder or finely chopped according to the classic recipe, pumpkin and onion are cut as finely as possible. If there is lard or fat among the ingredients, it is also crushed, everything is mixed, seasoning and water are added (the latter is needed if the meat is passed through a meat grinder).

The following vegetables can be used instead of pumpkin:

• zucchini;
• cabbage;
• raw potatoes.

As a base, you can use the pumpkin manti recipe.

How to sculpt manti

After the dough has “rested” a little, you can start sculpting. There are many options here.

Classic. The dough is thinly rolled into a layer, circles are cut out, the filling is laid out in the middle of each. They begin to pinch from the center, while not reaching the edges. The remaining gaps are fixed so that the result is 4 ears. They are fastened in pairs on opposite sides. With this variant of modeling, Uzbek manti is obtained.

In the form of flowers. For this option, the dough is rolled into a thin large cake, cut into squares with sides of about 10 cm. The filling is placed in the center. The corners of the square are diagonally connected betweenyourself in the center. In the same way, fix the remaining corners. The resulting holes are formed in the form of petals.

Manti roses. Thinly rolled dough is cut into strips of 25–30 cm, each 5–6 cm wide. Minced meat is laid out in the center in a thin even layer along the entire length. The strip is folded in half lengthwise so that the stuffing is inside. The resulting flagellum is rolled up and placed with an open cut up.

Cooking process

Traditionally, the dish is steamed, so you can use a double boiler, slow cooker or a regular pan. It depends on which option is chosen how much to cook manti.

Cooking in a double boiler. Manti are dipped with the bottom edge in vegetable oil and laid out on the tiers of a double boiler. The distance between the products should be about 2 cm, otherwise they will stick to each other. Set the steamer timer to 45 minutes. After that, they are taken out, laid on a flat dish and served.

Cooking in a slow cooker. Pour 6 glasses of water into the bowl of the device (use the glass that comes with the multicooker). A grate for steaming is installed on top, greased with vegetable oil and manti are laid out (you need to make sure that they do not touch each other). Set the steam mode and turn on the timer for 30 minutes.

Cooking in a saucepan. If there is no special equipment for steaming, you can get by with an ordinary saucepan and a colander. Pour some water into a saucepan, let it boil. Colanderfix so that it does not touch the water, lubricate with oil and lay the workpiece at a short distance. Steamed manty covered for about 30 minutes.

What to serve with

Finely chopped greens (parsley + dill), mayonnaise, mustard, any sauce are perfect for such a meat dish. In Asia, manti is often served as a first course. In this case, it is appropriate to serve rich hot broth with them.

In fact, the recipes for making manti listed above are only a small part of all that exist today. In practice, any housewife will be able to choose exactly the recipe that the family will like more.