How do I cook Mantee?

[newsbabe]

i bought some mantee from an armenian/turkish bakery this weekend. i know i'm supposed to cook it in chicken broth, and then you add yogurt and mint?? ...but do you add that stuff to the chicken broth? or do you drain the chicken broth? also...while i like yogart, i find that when i use it on foods like this...sometimes that's all you end up tasting. anyone have experience with mantee and can guide me?

[Richard Kilgore]

Okay, I give. What's Mantee? At first I thought you said Manatee.

[cdh]

Mantee is the Estonian word for boulevard... probably not what she's talking about either.

[newsbabe]

It's a tiny meat ravioli...i think it's arab. They actually bake it until it's brown. But then you cook it in chicken broth like a pasta. I know that you add yogart, but wasn't sure if you drain off the chicken broth or not.

I tested some out, just by draining and mixing, and it tasted good, but wasn't sure if i did it right. Thanks anyways, guys. Like your guesses on what the heck mantee was. Believe me, before this weekend, I never heard of it either.

[fifi]

Having gotten past the fact that you weren't cooking manatees...

I found a reference to "manti" in Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean. She tells a wonderful story about this woman that runs a restaurant in Istanbul that specializes in manti.

The dish had been described as a cross between Italian tortellini and Chinese pot stickers, but such a description does not begin to describe its delicious, subtle essence.

Then she further defines the dish.

Once formed, the dumplings are baked golden brown to imbue a special toasted flavor, then simmered in a flavorful stock until swollen and tender. After cooking, the dumplings are smothered under a cloak of thick, creamy yogurt. Finally, a teaspoon of sizzling butter, scented with dried mint and finely ground black pepper, is swirled on top.

(Uuuum... are you hungry yet? Wolfert Warning! Do not read Paula's descriptions if you are on a diet! )

Then there is a detailed recipe. The "dumplings" are filled with lamb and onion seasoned with black pepper and oregano. As to the stock, that is poured over the dumplings in the baking pan after they have browned and return to the oven. Apparently, they absorb most of the liquid but there will be some left over. You pour that into the yogurt sauce you are making. Wow! cooked down chicken broth added to yogurt.

I would not attempt this dish without Paula's detailed instructions. The recipe takes about 2 1/2 pages, well spent to describe the details of technique. If you make your own dumplings, this is a project. If you can find the dumplings pre-made, you are way more than half-way there. The seasoning emphasis is on oregano and black pepper with a note of mint in the sauce. The sauce has garlic as well.

The Cooking of the Eastern Meditteranean an eGullet friendly Amazon link.

[Al_Dente]

I've had this in Afghan restaurants. It was usually something like a ground beef ravioli with a sauce probably made with some more ground beef (with plenty of grease), a little yogurt, and fresh mint. The pasta may have been boiled in broth, but it would probably work as well in water.

I have now completely exhausted my knowledge of mantee.

[achevres]

I had manti in Turkey at a restaurant and this recipe looks like what I had: Manti

The dish was very rich because of the butter and the whole milk yogurt. They spell it "manti" in Turkey.

I'm not sure of the size of yours, but what amazed me about the manti was their tiny tiny size--about 1/2 inch each. And they are made by hand!

[ludja]

I've had this in Afghan restaurants. It was usually something like a ground beef ravioli with a sauce probably made with some more ground beef (with plenty of grease), a little yogurt, and fresh mint.

...

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I've had something similar to this called "aushak" in Afghan restaurants. Although the ones I've had are pretty large, ~ 2' by 2". They seem to have some similar flavors to the mantee, but as I've had them, they are filled with leeks, then topped meat sauce and yogurt sauce, garnished with mint.

Interesting to learn about mantee, especially if you can buy them and then make the dish at home relatively easily. I do have The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean by Wolfert as well...

Thanks for the topic newsbabe!

[newsbabe]

>I'm not sure of the size of yours, but what amazed me about the manti was their >tiny tiny size--about 1/2 inch each. And they are made by hand!

Yes! They were very tiny. From what I understand, the smaller they are, the more skilled the person who made them, and the more honored you're supposed to feel if you are served them.

Either way, they were YUMMY! My 5 year old son devoured them. Guess I did it close to right. I had the heavy greek yogurt and dried mint...didn't think of swirling in melted butter though. man!

[helenjp]

I just received my long-awaited copy of Helen Saberi's Afghan Food and Cookery. We just got out our kotatsu - low table with an electric heater on the underside, and a quilt sandwiched between frame and table top, so I settled in, and opened the book - to a picture of an Afghani couple in THEIR kotatsu, except that they called it a "sandali". We therefore decided to christen the arrival of kotatsu season in Japan by making ashak. I used a mixture of half nira (CHinese chives) and Japanese dividing onions (rather like leeks, but more tender) to fill the pasta, which was served bathed in drained yogurt, sprinkled with mint, and topped with a slightly tomato-ey meat sauce. It sounds good, but it tasted WONDERFUL! Just like sui-gyoza, but better. I suppose we have Genghis and friends to thank for this curious cross of cultures?

THe recipe for "mantu" in this book insists that you should chop the fatty lamb by hand, rather than using ground lamb, which is inclined to be tough (this is also true of gyoza fillings, so I'm willing to believe her!). The filling includes lots of finely chopped onion, with salt, pepper, green chili, and cumin. The dough can be handmade, or wonton wrappers can be used - she only closes them at the top, allowing plenty of room for steam to contact the filling directly. The steamed mantu are served with a tomato sauce and cilantro, and a bowl of yogurt. Sounds good, next time I get my hands on some lamb...

I took a long time to order this book, thinking that it might not be very applicable to the way we eat here in Japan, and have had many pleasant surprises!

[sazji]

My favorite ways are to boil them in broth with a bit of tomato and pepper paste (if you can't find it, use some marash pepper) till tender, then either:

1. put them plain in the bowl and cover them with yogurt, and over this drizzle melted butter to which you've added some marash pepper, then add more pepper and mint, or

2. put them with broth in the bowl add not quite so much yogurt, and do the same treatment with pepper and mint to taste.

[PassionateChefsDie]

I'm intrigued I've found a reference to the original spelling Mantee not Manti

Which seems to describe a steamed dumpling from Uzbekistan, so how come the spelling is this a spelling mistake? As for the dish described its always spelt Manti, which brings references to Turkish/Armenian. I'm now completly lost now, Afghan's call it Mantu can any one clarify the original spelling. Is Mantee a steamed dumpling, does anyone know the origins of the word or dish. All 3 cuisines seem to make it the same yet its only Uzbekistan that spell it the same yet it seems to describes a different dish!