Manti and Fake Manti Recipe :)

I love eating Manti more than making it. Wonderful taste, it takes a bit long time to make but eating takes 5 mins. Not fair! :)

My husband, of course, loves it, too. He was always bugging me to cook it soon. Finally, I cooked it. Everyone is happy now.:)

In my country, you can find different types of Manti. Recipe varies region to region. I learned it from my grandma and my mum. They used to make the way I described below. Hopefully, one day, my kids can learn it from me! :))

My grandma has a lot of grandchildren. I remember her making Manti for all of us, when I was a little girl. We used to help her. She used to put a few chickpeas inside the Manti. The idea was if you could find the chickpea while eating, you will be the luckiest grandchild. We loved this game. :)
Now, I honor the tradition by putting two chickpeas when I make it. My husband is very lucky not just because he has me, but also he found the first chickpea in the first spoon today.:)))

Here are my first recipes, I hope you will enjoy them.

Manti Recipe:
Ingredients:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

• 250 gr ground meat
• 1 large onion (chopped in very small pieces)
• Salt and black pepper

Yogurt Sauce 1:

• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  

Red Pepper Sauce 2:

• 6-7 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons red pepper ( hot or mild, its up to you)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, water, egg, olive oil and salt.
2. Knead them very well until the dough is formed. The dough should be smooth and not sticky. If you feel it is sticky, add a little bit more flour.
3. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and let stand at cool room temperature for an hour.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. In a medium bowl, put onions, meat, salt and black pepper. Knead them together for one minute (do not cook.)
5. Lightly dust a work surface and a rolling pin with flour. Divide the dough into 4 equal balls. Roll out each ball into sheets as thin as you can roll out, but be careful don't tear it.
6. Cut each sheet into squares of about 1.5"x1.5".Put a very small piece of filling at the center of each square. Continue until the dough is finished.
7. As you see below, bring the opposite corners together and make a triangle or, fold them to make a rectangle. Both works fine. Press the sides firmly. (Don't forget to hide your chickpeas for the game. :)
8. Bring two of the adjacent corners together as shown in the picture.
9. In a large pot, boil the water and add a little bit salt, olive oil. Add Manti and stir. Cook for about 15 minutes. Please check while cooking. Don't overcook.
10. Meanwhile, prepare the sauces. Firstly, in a small bowl, grate cloves of garlic and add yogurt, water, salt. Stir them together. Secondly, in a separate sauce pan add olive oil and red pepper, stir together and cook them only for half a minute.
11. When Manti is ready, you can drain well or not, the way you like, it is up to you.
12. Serve warm with yogurt sauce and red sauce.

Fake Manti:

Also, there is another option for Manti. In Turkey, we call it Fake Manti. It doesn't taste the same as original Manti, but pretty close.
Lazy girls, like me, love it :)

You only need; shell pasta instead of dough.
Enjoy Fake Manti, too.