Now let’s cook
Manti. They take a while to shape, and then the steam does the cooking.
Ingredients
- 500 g plain wheat flourwhite wheat flour, called all-purpose in the US
- 1 egglarge hen’s egg, about 50 g without the shell
- 195 ml waterplain drinking water
- ½ tsp fine saltordinary table salt
- 500 g boneless lambthe bones taken out, then cut small with a knife or put through the coarse plate of a mincer
- 300 g onionyellow onion, chopped very finely by hand
- 100 g lamb tail fatsheep fat, chopped small and added to the filling raw
- 1 tsp fine saltordinary table salt
- 2 pinches ground black peppersprinkled over the meat with the salt
- 1 tsp ground cumina powder of cumin seed
- 1 tbsp sunflower oila neutral-tasting oil
- 120 ml sour creamspooned on top of the hot manti
- 10 g fresh herbsdill or parsley, chopped
Method
In a large bowl, mix the flour with the salt. In another bowl, beat the egg with the water and pour it into the flour a little at a time, stirring with a spoon first and then with your hands. Do not taste the raw dough: it has raw egg in it.
Knead the dough on the table for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. Wrap it in cling film and leave it for 30 minutes.
Cut the lamb into small pieces with a knife or put it through the coarse plate of a mincer. Chop the onion and the tail fat finely. Mix everything in a bowl with the salt, pepper and cumin.
Knead the rested dough once more, wrap it in cling film again and leave it for another 30 minutes.
Cut off a quarter of the dough and cover the rest. Roll the quarter into a rope and cut it into large pieces. Dip each piece in flour and roll it out with a rolling pin into a thin round disc, thinner at the edges than in the middle. Put a tablespoon of the filling in the centre of each. Roll out and fill the rest of the dough the same way.
Bring opposite edges of a disc together over the filling and pinch them shut, then join the remaining edges in pairs the same way, so that you get a closed little bag and the juice does not run out while it cooks.
Grease the racks of a manti steamer or of any steamer with oil and lay the manti on them with small gaps between. Pour water into the bottom part and bring it to the boil.
Set the racks over the boiling water, cover with the lid and steam the manti for 40–60 minutes.
Push a thermometer into the centre of the largest manti: it should read at least 71 °C. If it is lower, cook for 5 more minutes and check again.
Serve hot, with sour cream and fresh herbs.
Where this dish comes from
Cuisines of Central Asia, Kazakhstan included
Manti are a dish of the cuisines of Central Asia: a meat filling in thinly rolled dough, cooked in steam. A filling of lamb and tail fat with onion is common across Central Asia, Kazakhstan included.
