Hotan Manta

Manta is the steamed dumpling of the Uyghur table; the thin-skinned version is called petir manta in Uyghur (petir = unleavened dough). It is the steamed counterpart to the baked samsa — the same lamb filling, one baked in the tandoor and one set in stacked steamer baskets. The dough is mixed with cold water, kept unleavened and stiff, then rolled sheet by sheet until it is paper-thin and nearly translucent, which is what gives the dumpling its name. The filling is lamb diced to the size of a chopstick tip with onion, lamb tail fat, cumin and black pepper, kept simple to honor the meat. The pieces are pleated shut into a small cockscomb shape and steamed about twenty minutes. The dish is common across the oasis towns from Hotan through Kashgar to Yili; this is the Hotan style.

Steamed lamb dumplings whose wrapper is so thin and translucent the filling shows through. The lamb is finely diced and seasoned simply with salt, cumin and black pepper; bitten open it runs with juice, carrying the richness of the meat and its tail fat.

The cold-water unleavened dough is stiff enough to roll out paper-thin without tearing and stays translucent after steaming. Lamb tail fat worked into the filling melts as it cooks and, with the moisture the onion gives off, is trapped inside the thin skin — so the dumpling turns juicy under the steam, which is what defines the thin-skinned bun.