Mantu are small steamed dumplings of thin dough wrapped around minced beef or lamb and plenty of onion, served under a layer of garlicky yoghurt and a tomato sauce of yellow split peas or beans, and dried mint. Made in large batches, they are a dish of gatherings: the writer Humaira Ghilzai describes spring dumpling-making parties where families cook, talk and eat together all day.
A Silk Road dumpling
Mantu belong to a wide family of Central Asian dumplings. The name is generally traced to the Chinese mantou, and some of the earliest descriptions of similar dishes date from the Mongol Empire. Turkic and Mongol peoples are credited with carrying the recipe along the Silk Road, riders reputedly packing frozen or dried dumplings to boil over campfires. In Afghanistan the dish gained its own finish of yoghurt, mint and pulses.
Toppings and variations
Afghan cooks keep mantu small, with thin, tender dough. The yoghurt may be thick strained chaka seasoned with garlic, lemon, mint and chilli, and the second sauce may be tomato with split peas or with kidney beans. Some families serve fresh spring onions, radishes and cucumber alongside. Unlike ashak, which are boiled and filled with leek, mantu are steamed with meat inside.
Ingredients
- 350 g minced lamb or beef
- 600 g onions (about 3 large), finely diced
- 3 tbsp oil, divided
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp black pepper and 1 tsp salt
- About 40 round dumpling (gow gee) or wonton wrappers
- For the sauce: 150 g yellow split peas, soaked 2–3 hours; 1 onion, diced; 2 garlic cloves; 2 tomatoes, diced; 1 tbsp tomato paste; ½ tsp turmeric; salt
- For the yoghurt: 400 g plain yoghurt, 2 crushed garlic cloves and a pinch of salt
- Dried mint and chilli powder, to finish
A home-style way to make it
- For the sauce, brown the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp oil, add the tomatoes, paste, turmeric, drained split peas and about 200 ml water, and simmer for 30–45 minutes until the peas are soft. Season.
- For the filling, brown the mince in the remaining oil, add the onions and cook until translucent, then stir in the coriander, pepper and salt. Cool completely.
- Mix the yoghurt with the garlic and salt.
- Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre of each wrapper, moisten the edges with water, bring them up to the middle and pinch firmly to seal.
- Oil the steamer trays, arrange the dumplings with a little space between them and steam for about 25 minutes.
- Spread some yoghurt on a platter, arrange the mantu on top, spoon over the sauce and the remaining yoghurt, and sprinkle with dried mint and chilli.
