As promised, Celebrity Guest Chef Sonia decided to share with our readers one of her most prized recipes, Manti, which is crunchy ‘boats’ of meat pies in a tomato based broth topped with yogurt to make for one of the Armenia’s best but little known delights.
Manti, which happens to be one of my favorite dishes can be considered to be the gem of Armenian cuisine. Manti goes perfectly as Side Dish and is perfect on a cold night, served hot from the oven with a nice dollop of yogurt.
Ingredients
Filling:
1 pound ground beef or lamb
1 small onion, minced finely
Sea salt, black pepper and allspice to taste
Dough:
3 cups sifted flour
1 large egg
5 tablespoons tap water
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
Broth:
4 cups organic chicken broth
2 cups plain yogurt(can use non-fat if you prefer)
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons butter
sumac or ground cumin
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How to make Manti
To prepare filling: combine all the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well and set aside.
To prepare dough: in a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, egg, water, oil and sea salt.
Knead for five to ten minutes until the dough forms into a smooth and shiny ball.
If the dough is not pliable enough, add more water, but not too much.
Let it rest at room temperature for about thirty minutes.
On a lightly floured surface roll the dough until it is paper thin.
Cut into one and a half inch squares.
Place a teaspoon of the filling in the center of each square.
Pinch the two ends with your fingers to form a canoe-shaped pastry.
Arrange the manti close together, meat side up, in a well-buttered pan.
Dot each with a bit of the butter.
Bake at 350 degrees about twenty to thirty minutes, or until the manti are golden brown.
Keep warm.
Heat the chicken broth.
Pour into a tureen.
Combine the yogurt with the garlic in mixing bowl.
To serve, place the manti into individual bowls, add the hot chicken broth and the garlic-yogurt.
Sprinkle with the sumac or cumin, and serve.
Recently on a trip to Toronto, we were fortunate enough to meet up with Celebrity Guest Chef Sonia who shared one of her amazing soup recipes with DidYouDiet.com 