Manti (Turkish Dumplings with Garlic Yogurt)
Tiny hand-folded dumplings filled with spiced beef, blanketed in garlicky yogurt and finished with sizzling paprika butter — Turkey's most beloved comfort food.
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Ingredients
500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
2 medium eggs
150ml water (about 2/3 cup)
1 tsp salt
250g minced beef
1 small onion, finely grated
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
500g strained (suzme) yogurt
3 garlic cloves, crushed
75g butter
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp pul biber (Turkish pepper flakes)
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tsp sumac, to serve (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Make the dough: mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, add the eggs and water, and knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth and firm. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- 2
Meanwhile, mix the minced beef with the grated onion, black pepper and a good pinch of salt until well combined.
- 3
Divide the dough in two and roll each piece on a floured surface to about 2mm thick. Cut into 3cm squares with a knife or pastry wheel.
- 4
Place a chickpea-sized dot of filling in the centre of each square. Bring the four corners together over the filling and pinch the seams firmly to seal.
- 5
Stir the crushed garlic and a pinch of salt into the strained yogurt and set aside at room temperature so it is not fridge-cold.
- 6
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the manti for 8-10 minutes, until the dough is tender and they float. Drain, reserving a splash of the cooking water.
- 7
While the manti cook, melt the butter in a small pan, stir in the tomato paste and pul biber, and let it sizzle gently for a minute until fragrant and brick-red.
- 8
Divide the manti between warm bowls, loosening them with a spoonful of cooking water if needed. Spoon over the garlic yogurt, drizzle generously with the paprika butter and finish with dried mint and sumac.
In Kayseri they say a good bride should fold manti so small that forty fit on one spoon. You do not need to aim for forty — even generously sized dumplings deliver that magical combination of chewy dough, savoury beef, cool garlic yogurt and hot, brick-red butter that makes manti one of Turkey's most treasured dishes.
Making manti from scratch is a lovely weekend project, and it goes much faster with helpers around the table. Roll the dough thin, cut it into small squares, dot each with filling and pinch into little parcels. They freeze brilliantly: spread uncooked manti on a tray, freeze solid, then bag them up and boil straight from frozen whenever the craving strikes.
The finishing touches matter as much as the dumplings. Use a thick strained yogurt so the sauce clings, and do not skip the butter stage — melting butter with tomato paste and pul biber until it foams is what turns a bowl of dumplings into proper manti. A dusting of dried mint and sumac at the end lifts everything.
Every ingredient here, from Turkish flour to strained yogurt and pul biber, is available at Turkish Online Market with UK-wide delivery — and if you want manti on a busy weeknight, a bag of ready-made frozen manti in the freezer is a perfectly honourable shortcut.
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