Steamed dumplings filled with ground lamb and onion, topped with yogurt sauce and tomato-lentil sauce — Pashtun crossover with Central Asia.
Mantu (or mantı) travel across the Silk Road, and the Pashtun version sits between the Turkic original and Afghan-style refinement. Thin dough squares are filled with finely chopped ground lamb and onion seasoned only with salt and pepper, twisted closed at the top, and steamed. The finishing is what makes them Pashtun: a yogurt-garlic sauce poured below, a tomato-and-yellow-lentil sauce ladled over, and dried mint dusted on top. Eaten with the fingers or a fork.
Steamed lamb dumplings on a bed of yogurt-garlic sauce, drizzled with tomato-lentil sauce on top, and dusted with dried mint and red chili oil. Three layers of flavor (yogurt-cool, tomato-warm, lamb-meaty) per bite.
The dumpling shape (corners pinched at the top, opening visible) lets the yogurt sauce penetrate from below while the tomato sauce coats from above — geometry serving flavor. The dried mint added at the end is essential; fresh mint would clash with the cool yogurt.
Variations
Afghan mantu uses chickpeas in the tomato sauce; Pashtun Pakistani versions use red lentils; Turkic versions in Central Asia might add walnut — the Silk Road dumpling adapts at every stop.
On the Palate
Where Mantu sits in the Pakistani flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
5 steps · 2 hours 5 min active + 55 min waiting
- 136 min
Dough: mix 400g flour, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt, 180ml water; knead 10 min. Rest 30 min.
- 236 min
Filling: mix 500g ground lamb with 2 finely chopped onions, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper. Don't add water — onion juice is enough.
Watch outDo not add water to the filling — the salted onion weeps its own juice, and extra liquid makes the dumplings leak and split in the steamer.
- 336 min
Roll dough thin (2mm); cut into 6cm squares. Place 1 tsp filling in the center of each; pinch corners together at the top.
Watch outRoll the dough to about 2mm — thick wrappers stay gummy, and pinch the corners firmly at the top so the sauce can still seep in from below.
- 436 min
Steam over simmering water 25 min in a single layer.
Watch outSteam in a single layer — stacked dumplings stick and steam unevenly; they're done when the wrapper turns translucent and springs back.
- 536 min
Yogurt sauce: 400g yogurt + 4 minced garlic cloves + ½ tsp salt. Tomato-lentil sauce: simmer 100g red lentils with 200ml water, 1 chopped tomato, 1 tsp tomato paste, 1 tsp paprika, 30g ghee, salt. Plate: yogurt on a wide plate, mantu on top, tomato-lentil sauce drizzled over, dried mint and chili oil sprinkled on top.
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