Manti Uzbek

Medium·50 min

Large, palm-sized steamed dumplings filled with hand-chopped lamb, onion and fat, pleated shut and steamed in a tiered basket. Served slicked with butter and topped with yogurt and herbs, they are eaten by hand to keep every drop of juice.

Egg

Manti traveled the Silk Road from the Turkic and Mongol world and put down deep roots across Central Asia, where in Uzbekistan they grew large and generous, steamed in a stacked basket called a mantovarka or kaskan. The filling is traditionally chopped by hand, never ground, so the meat stays in distinct juicy morsels. A platter of manti is festive food, shared at family gatherings and eaten with the fingers so none of the precious broth inside is lost.

Biting in releases a rush of hot, savory broth from the hand-chopped lamb, sweet with melted onion and rich with fat. The thin dough is tender but resilient, soaking up the buttery juices, while the cool tang of yogurt balances each mouthful. Best eaten with your hands, leaning over the plate.

Hand-chopping rather than grinding keeps the meat in loose pieces that release juice as they steam, pooling inside the sealed dough as broth. The thin wrapper traps that steam, so the filling effectively poaches in its own liquid and stays moist and tender.

Variations

Filled with lamb, beef, or pumpkin; some add potato; topped with tomato sauce or just butter and yogurt

On the Palate

Where Manti Uzbek sits in the Uzbek flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 4

How it's made

8 steps · 50 min

1
50 min
Knead a firm dough of flour, water, egg and salt, then rest it covered to relax.
2
20 min
Hand-chop lamb and an equal volume of onion, mixing with cubes of fat, cumin, salt and pepper.
Watch out
Hand-chop the lamb and onion into loose bits rather than a paste — those distinct pieces are what release juice into broth inside the wrapper.
3
10 min
Roll the dough very thin and cut into large squares.
4
15 min
Place a generous spoon of filling on each square and pleat the corners together into a sealed parcel.
5
8 min
Oil the tiers of a steamer basket and arrange the dumplings without touching.
6
40 min
Steam over rapidly boiling water until the dough is glossy and the filling is cooked through.
Watch out
They're done when the wrappers turn glossy and translucent and the juice runs clear inside; underdone dough looks matte and pasty.
7
3 min
Brush the hot manti with melted butter so they glisten and stay supple.
8
4 min
Serve topped with katyk or suzma, a dusting of herbs and black pepper.