Kazakh Homestyle Manty Recipe

Kazakh Homestyle Manty Recipe

Bekasha says, “When you eat a manty, don’t break it up or you’ll lose the juice on the inside. Instead, pick it up with one hand and take a bite. Then pour Kobra Sauce inside and take the second and last bite.” The version below suggests an alternate garnish, but two recipes for Kobra Hot Sauce come following after.

Manty Dough

This recipe makes enough dough for a dozen large, deeply satisfying manty or 24 smaller manty. The smaller ones are more typical in Central Asia.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups flour
1 cup water
1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

First combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Then add eggs and water to the dry ingredients. Mix and knead until the dough is elastic and not tacky to the touch. (Flour amount may vary by plus or minus a tablespoon.) Let dough rest at least 20 minutes. The dough should be elastic like pelmeni dough. 

Meaty Manty Filling

In Central Asia, the fat chunks used in these manty come from a special breed of highly prized fat-tailed sheep. Elsewhere, lamb fat or pork fatback can be used to make this delicious recipe.

Filling:
1 pound coarsely ground or minced lamb or beef

9-10 ounces of pumpkin or another winter squash (diced)

1 cup minced onion

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt in a splash of water

1/8 pound (2 ounces) fat cut into almond-sized chunks (¼ inch cubes)

Equipment Needed:
Dumpling Steamer (A regular vegetable steamer placed in a pan full of water, covered tightly with a lid and then brought to boil works well, too.)

Garnish:

¾ cup yogurt or sour cream

Black pepper to taste

Fresh coriander leaves

Directions:

In a bowl thoroughly mix finely chopped onion, ground black pepper, cumin and a little salt water to moisten the meat. Add the diced pumpkin. Cut the dough into four parts. Sprinkle your workspace with flour. Roll out one quarter of dough into a thin sheet. Liberally flour work surface. Roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut the sheet into vertical strips approximately two inches wide 

with a sharp knife. Cut the strips horizontally at the same interval of two inches. Remove scrap dough and combine into unused dough. Roll out and repeat until the all dough is used.

Assemble manty by placing a dollop of filling in dough squares and pinching the edges together. Steam manty in dumpling steamer for 45 minutes. After steaming, adorn each manty with one tablespoon of sour cream or yogurt, a pinch of black pepper and a pinch of finely chopped coriander.

Kobra Hot Sauce

Kazakhs usually make Kobra Sauce in mass quantities. They buy tomatoes when they’re in season and cheap at the bazaar. This recipe uses traditional proportions. The alternative Kobra Sauce recipe cuts the ingredient portions to what Americans would buy in a grocery store.

Ingredients:

9 pounds fresh tomatoes

3 medium heads of garlic

1 pound sweet red peppers

½ pound mildly hot red peppers

2-3 hot red peppers

3-4 ounces shredded raw horseradish

Salt to taste

Directions:

Carefully wash vegetables and peel garlic. Chop tomatoes and peppers into large chunks. Feed into food processor or blender. Add one tablespoon of horseradish to each quart of sauce. Salt to taste. Mix carefully. Keep in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed glass jar.

Kobra Hot Sauce 2

Kazakhs eat this sauce all winter long, with manty or simply spread on bread.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of tomatoes

4-5 red and/or green Bulgarian sweet peppers

5-6 cloves of garlic

1 hot pepper of your choice (optional)

Salt to taste

5 sprigs each parsley and dill

Directions:

Run through the tomatoes through grinder or pulse them in a food processor or blender. Boil them in a large pot for half an hour. While the tomatoes are boiling, chop the peppers, garlic, parsley and dill. Salt tomatoes to taste. Add parsley, dill, cilantro, garlic, Bulgarian peppers and vegetable oil. Bring the sauce to a boil. Allow to simmer 20 minutes or until peppers are completely integrated into the tomatoes. Pour the sauce into sterilized jars and tighten the lids onto the jars. Once the sauce has cooled to room temperature, refrigerate.