Homemade Kayserili Manti aka Turkish Dumplings
Living in Turkey was one of the highlights of my life. Not only did I get to travel to many historical places in a beautiful country, I fell in love with the food – which, in my opinion, is the best in the world. I have been to many countries and have found that Turkish people are some of the most hospitable people you will ever meet. I also enjoyed the food and learned to make Homemade Kayserili Manti aka Turkish Dumplings.
My beautiful daughter was born in Turkey. Recently, she was craving Manti so I dug out the Kayserili Manti recipe her grandmother had written out for me in Turkish. She is from Kayserili which is an area in Turkey that is famous for their Manti. Since it takes a while to make, we gathered the ingredients and got to work. Manti is not difficult to make it just takes a little time so it is a good dish to make when you have plenty of helpers in the kitchen. If you think this dish is too time-consuming, you can check out my Easy Manti Recipe which uses ready-made WonTon Wrappers.
Homemade Kayserili Manti aka Turkish Dumplings Recipe
- 2 pounds Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Water
- 1 Medium Onion
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- 2 Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Can Tomato Paste
- 4-6 Cloves Garlic, crushed
- 1½ Cups Full Fat Plain Yogurt (I use Cabot Farms)
- To taste Crushed Dried Mint, Red Pepper Flakes, Sumac
- Get a large bowl and place a little less than a kilo of flour which is about a little less than a 5-pound bag of flour (if you want to be exact, a kilo is 2.2 pounds so use about 2 pounds).
- Add 2 eggs, salt, and water.
- Start with a cup of water but pour in about half a cup and then add the rest till you get a dough that is not too wet. Form it into a ball and let rest while you prepare the filling.
- Grate the two small onions into a bowl add salt, pepper and 1 pound of ground beef. Mix well, cover and put in fridge until ready to use.
- Sprinkle the surface where you will be rolling the dough (I have a large round wooden board (bought at Lowe’s) that I roll my dough on but you can use your countertop or table.) with flour and place about half of the dough on the board. Using an oklava (Turkish rolling pin) or a long ½ inch diameter dowel, roll the dough as thin as possible. Lift the dough with the oklava and gently let it layer the dough like an accordion.
- Cut this layered stack of dough into 1-inch strips then unfold them and stack one on top of the other. Cut these stacks into 1-inch squares. Sprinkle a tray with flour and fluff the squares of dough onto the tray.
- Next, you can start stuffing the manti.
- Take a fingertip amount of the meat filling and place in the center of the square. Pinch the corners to the center and place on another tray leaving space between the dumplings so they do not stick together.
- When you have used all the dough, take the other half of dough and roll out the same as above. Fill the squares with the remaining meat filling.
- Put a large stockpot of salted water on the stove to boil. In the meantime, put a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan and heat. Add one can of tomato paste, salt, pepper and water to make a sauce.
- Next, make the garlic yogurt. Crush about 4-6 cloves of garlic with salt and mix in a bowl with 1½ cups full-fat plain yogurt. Stir well, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- When the water boils, carefully place some of the manti into the boiling water. Boil about 6 – 8 minutes (they will float to the top and you can test one to be sure it is done).
- Once the dumplings are cooked, ladle the dumplings into bowls and add some of the cooking broth to the bowl.
- Top with the sauce, a spoonful of the garlic yogurt, crushed dried mint, red pepper flakes and sumac (optional). Enjoy piping hot! Afiyet Olsun!
