Manti Inspired Fresh Made Spaghetti and Meatballs
First and foremost, let me say this is not Manti!!!! Manti is a delicious Turkish dish that is best made when you have plenty of helping hands around. It could be done alone but part of the fun of making Manti is spending the time stuffing the dough with the meat mixture while you chit-chat with your family and/or friends! The best Manti in Turkey is from the Kayseri region. My former mother-in-love, Sevim was from Kayseri and I learned to make Manti from her. For Traditional Kayseri Manti, click here. I was in the mood for Manti but was not feeling up to spending too much time rolling and stuffing hundreds of little dumplings so I decided to make a quick pasta dough, run it through my pasta machine and then through the spaghetti cutter. I think this dish turned out really good. My daughter liked it and that is what is important right? Cooking the foods my family loves makes me feel like I am doing something right in the world!
- For the Spaghetti:
- ½ Cup Flour (Plus extra for rolling the dough)
- ½ Cup Semolina Flour
- 1 Egg
- 3-4 Tablespoons Water
- For the Meatballs:
- 1 Pound 80/20 Ground Beef
- 1 Medium Onion, grated
- 4-5 Cloves Garlic, crushed
- 1 15 ounce can of tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes) or 1 pound peeled and finely chopped tomatoes
- 1 Teaspoon salt, (1/2 teaspoon for the meat, ½ teaspoon salt for the sauce)
- 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
- For Serving:
- Dried Crushed Mint
- Sumak
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Garlic Yogurt (3-4 Cloves garlic, crushed with salt into a paste added to 1-2 Cups Whole Milk Yogurt)
- Prepare the pasta by mixing the flour and semolina in a large mixing bowl.
- Make a well in the center and add the egg.
- Swirl the egg into the flour until well combined.
- If the dough is too crumbly, add a few tablespoons water to help the dough stick together.
- Knead about 5 minutes, then wrap in plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
- You can mix the meat mixture while the dough rests.
- Grate the onion, then add to the ground beef and salt.
- Combine well.
- Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a large pan.
- Add the garlic and saute 1-2 minutes.
- Pour in the tomatoes and season with salt.
- Turn the heat to low.
- Quickly form the meat mixture into small meatballs and drop each one gently into the tomato mixture.
- Once all the meatballs are in the pan, you can gently stir the meatballs so they cook evenly.
- Reduce heat and simmer while you make the garlic yogurt and finish the pasta.
- Crush the garlic into a paste using a mortar and pestle or just use your knife and a cutting board. Add the garlic paste into your yogurt.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
- Now take your pasta that was resting and cut it into four equal pieces.
- Flatten, dust with flour and run through your pasta machine twice on each setting.
- Finally, run the dough through the spaghetti cutter.
- Repeat with each piece of dough until you are finished.
- Place the fresh spaghetti into the boiling water and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until done.
- Drain the pasta, place in a bowl and top with the meatballs and sauce.
- Top the meatballs with garlic yogurt, crushed mint, crushed red pepper, and sumac if desired.
- Afiyet olsun!
