Why is it worth learning how to cook manti? Manti are practically big dumplings. One such comparison is enough to start sympathizing with this dish almost immediately. However, unlike dumplings, manti can contain the most diverse filling.
Variety of flavors
Some people prefer to cook manti at home with a filling of vegetables, with the addition of butter, if you want to get a more fatty and juicy dish. Vegetarians can create an appetizing dish with the addition of tomatoes, fresh bell peppers, a variety of herbs and aromatic onions.
Each of these recipes is distinguished by its unsurpassed taste, aroma and juiciness. Today we will consider several recipes for making manti with a photo so that everyone can enjoy this dish at home without any problems.
One of the classic recipes
What you need for this recipe:
- 0.5 kilograms of wheat flour;
- 200 milliliters of water;
- egg;
- 0.5 kilograms of minced meat from lamb or beef;
- 0.5 kilograms of onions;
- salt and pepper are added to taste.
What needs to be done to prepare a dish?
Cooking manti begins with the preparation of minced meat. Using a sharp knife, grind the meat thoroughly. Otherwise, you can make mince with a meat grinder - it all depends on your preferences. Finely chop the onion, mix it with the meat. You can add as much onion as you used meat. Mix the ingredients thoroughly with each other and wait 1.5 hours for the mixture to brew well.
Add chopped bell pepper and fresh tomatoes to the same stuffing. Add salt, pepper and other spices as you wish. In our case, they are added immediately before sculpting. Now you can go to the next stage of preparing manti at home - creating a test.
Dough for manti
Flour should be mixed with water, an egg, a spoonful of salt and knead the dough thoroughly. It will be very difficult to knead, because it will turn out to be tight and will strongly resist in your hands. Nevertheless, the final result fully justifies all efforts. Knead our dough, starting from the edges and going to the middle. Fold and squeeze it again, repeat so long.
You can stop it only after the dough becomes uniform inside, pleasant to the touch and very elastic. Then you can cover it with a clean towel or wrap the bowl with cling film. Leave the resulting dough so that it is infused for one hour. Only after it is infused, cut the same pieces from it and roll it on the table so that the sheet thickness is about 1 millimeter.
If you did everything right, the dough will turn out to be very supple, but smooth and elastic, it will roll out evenly and will not tear. From such a test, start cutting circles. Their size is an individual side of the preparation of manti, it all depends on the preferences of the cook. Some people prefer large pieces, beginners can focus on circles with a diameter of 9 centimeters - this is the size of an ordinary cup for tea. It is with its help that you can cut the necessary circles. Of these pieces, the manti will be relatively small, and it will be easy and simple to use. Taking sizes smaller is not recommended.
How to sculpt
Recipes for making manti at home describe a large number of different methods, and each of these methods gives a different shape and presentation for the dish. In the classic version, closed manti is prepared. It will turn out as simple as possible, while it’s beautiful. Moreover, all meat juice will remain inside.
In order to do this, we lay out our stuffing in the center of the circle, which has already been brewed. Right now you can salt it and add spices. Raise the edges of the dough and fasten them together by not pressing firmly from the center to the sides. At the edges of the dough, you need to compress in such a way that as a result a fish tail comes out. Tuck the resulting tails to the top and wrap the mantles with fins, fastening the ends together. That is all science. Very affordable.
Cooking in a double boiler
The preparation of manti is also carried out in several ways. You can steam them using bamboo "baskets", use a special metal manti-cascan. Some people prefer to throw them into boiling water, like dumplings, until they are cooked. It turns out very well a dish in a double boiler.
Before starting cooking, grease the bottom surface with olive oil so that they do not stick during cooking. If you cook a dish in several steps at once, some of them will be forced to wait in line. In this case, lubricate the manti along the entire surface: the oil will not allow the dough to dry out, and thus it will retain its elasticity.
Why choose a double boiler? It seemed to be ideally designed for the preparation of this dish. Manti as a result are very fragrant and juicy. Cover the bottom of the bowl in a double boiler with greens: cilantro and dill. On top, place the manti, at a small distance from each other, so that they do not stick together during the swelling. It remains only to cover, add water to the bowl and start the process.
The preparation time of manti depends largely on the size. It is best to first set the timer for one hour, and then navigate and check on the spot. Carefully remove the finished hot manti so as not to damage the integrity of the dough and not spill all the juice. It is better to lay out immediately on the plates, from where they will certainly disappear quickly.
Manti with pumpkin
This recipe for making manti at home with a photo will allow everyone to learn how to cook a dish with pumpkin filling. The combination of meat and this vegetable is simply amazing, so be sure to try this option!
What components are needed:
- 500 grams of pumpkin;
- 500 grams of onion;
- kilogram of lamb;
- black pepper, salt;
- 4 cups of wheat flour;
- egg;
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;
- glass of water.
How to cook
Step by step recipe for manti:
- Sift the flour, add the egg beaten with salt, add a glass of water and knead the dough thoroughly. It should be tight, but not overly tight. Of course, you can do everything manually or use a bread machine. The finished dough should be covered with a film and let it brew for 30 minutes or longer.
- Peel the pumpkin and chop it thoroughly.
- Cut the onion into small cubes. Manually, without a meat grinder!
- The meat is cut into small pieces. In Central Asia, this type of cutting is also called "nightingale tongues." The traditional meat for manti is lamb, fatty and young, tender and with a pleasant aroma. Minced meat can be salt to your taste and add generously black pepper. In addition, you can add a little cold milk, but if the pumpkin was juicy, then there is no such need.
- The real dough needs to be rolled into thick sausages, cut off large pieces and rolled into a thin pancake. The size of such a circle will be approximately from the palm. It is desirable that at the edges it was thinner than in the middle. Place minced meat in the center.
- Pinch the center of the circle.
- Pinch the free edges inward to make it look like a tulip.
- Manty lay on pre-greased lattices of a double boiler. It is enough to just soak the bottom of the mantle in oil and place on a wire rack. During cooking, they will increase in volume, so make sure that they do not stick together. Place the wire rack over the boiling pan, close the lid very tightly and steam the dish for 45 minutes. Boiling water in a pan can be salted, which will increase the boiling point and it will take only 35 minutes to cook.
- Now we can proceed to the preparation of Santama. You will need to mix hot red pepper with cereal, lightly moisten it with vinegar and pour hot red oil, constantly mixing the resulting mixture.
- Ready manti should be spread on a wide large dish and serve, pouring them with the resulting sauce.
- In addition, you can serve losizhan. However, try to avoid mayonnaise. You can take sour cream, but it will not be so traditional. Try to take mantas carefully so as not to tear the dough and not lose juice.
- You need to eat a dish with your hands, biting off from the side, drinking juice and enjoying everything else.
Where did this dish come from?
Manti have a very interesting and original story of appearance. She takes roots from Chinese legends. According to her, the commander Liang Dzhuge had to, along with all his army, cross the river with a very strong current. For the operation to complete successfully, Djuge had to sacrifice 50 goals of his soldiers for the ancient spirit of the river. But the commander was distinguished by his ingenuity and cunning. He ordered his subordinates to throw minced lumps wrapped in dough into the ruthless river waters. So he was able to save his subordinates, and the dish became a favorite delicacy throughout Asia called mantou, which means the head of a barbarian.
The recipe for homemade manti with chicken
As already mentioned, manti is a distant relative of dumplings. However, they are more juicy and large, and they are steamed, due to which they acquire a pleasant airiness. Using chicken as a filling, you can get a non-greasy version of the dish that does not harm your waist.
What ingredients are needed?
- 700 grams of chicken;
- 4 onions;
- 500 grams of dumplings dough;
- 40 grams of butter;
- salt and spices to taste.
You will spend about 45 minutes preparing 4 servings of such a dish.
Where do we start?
Step by step preparation of manti:
- Rinse the meat thoroughly, peel the onion from the husk. The dough is prepared as for dumplings, however, you can purchase it, be sure, yeast-free. Finely chop the chicken fillet: manually or using a blender with the necessary functionality. The classic recipe, of course, knows only a sharp knife.
- When slicing onions, it is very important to observe 2 rules: onions need to be cut in half rings or even quarters, however they must be very thin; you need to take as much onion as meat.
- For minced meat, mix the chicken with onions, add salt, ground black pepper and a little cool water. Knead it thoroughly.
- Roll the dough into a very thin sheet.
- Cut it into square pieces with a side of 10 centimeters.
- In the center of each square you need to put a spoonful of minced meat.
- Now mantas need to be given the right shape. Staple the opposite corners alternately to make it look like an envelope. Now connect the 2 edges closest to each other.
- The form must be lubricated with butter so that the manti does not stick together. Oil their edges as well.
- Place the nearly cooked dish in the steam bath so that they cook for 40 minutes. A slow cooker with the option of "Steam" will be a great helper.
- When ready, carefully remove the manti so as not to harm the dough and preserve the delicious juice. You can serve with herbs, sour cream and adjika home-made.
Beef filling
Photos of cooked manti often show us an appetizing and seductive dish, upon seeing which, you will certainly want to try. Now consider a recipe for beef. The volumes of meat and onions must be the same so that the resulting dish turns out juicy and tasty. Additionally, you can add butter to the filling.
Essential Ingredients:
- 400 grams of ground beef;
- 350 grams of onions;
- 170 milliliters of water;
- 3 tablespoons of flour;
- egg;
- salt pepper;
- a spoon of zira;
- greens - at the discretion;
- 70 grams of butter;
- 100 milliliters of vegetable oil.
It takes about two hours to prepare 4 servings of the dish.
Getting started cooking
- We peel the onion and cut it very thinly into half rings.
- On the basis of flour, water, eggs and salt, knead the dough. You need to knead it until it sticks to your fingers.
- Grind greens carefully and add it to the composition of minced meat.
- Minced meat is best cooked on its own, rather than taking ready-made ones in stores. Mix onion with meat, salt and spices, then carefully knead it.
- The dough is rolled into a very thin layer and cut into several squares.
- Place the minced meat in the center; you can place a small piece of butter on top.
- Form the manti using any method convenient for you.
- Dip the bottom of the manti in vegetable oil and place in a special pan for cooking manti. Close the lid tightly and cook for 45 minutes. Water should boil, but not violently.
- The finished dish can be additionally greased with oil. Serve with a sauce of sour cream, herbs, pepper, garlic and a pinch of salt.