Manti!

My girlfriends and I have been wanting to make an Armenian staple for a while, Manti. If you are not familiar with manti, think if it as our version of Italian raviolis, or our version of a potsticker. It is a perfect treat for Christmas and it is always fun when you get 5 girls in the kitchen with some dough, meat and drinks! We had so much fun making the homemade dough, which I swear is super easy, to making mini meatballs and filling our little pockets of goodness. While you can make this by yourself it is always more fun when you have a good group of people to help you, not to mention a group of men with appetites. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we enjoyed making this dish. 

Manti

Makes about 300 manti 

Ingredients

Dough

4 cups flour

2 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons Vegetable oil

water to prepare medium hard dough

Filling

2 pound ground meat

1 small onion finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon paprika

Sauce

5 cups chicken broth

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons pepper paste

2 pounds yogut

3-4 cloves garlic, mashed

Directions

• Put the flour, salt and oil in a food processor and add enough water to prepare medium hard dough. ( start by adding 1/4 cup of water at a time)
• Divide the dough into 4 balls. Sprinkle some flour at the bottom of the bowl and leave the dough to rest, covered with a cloth of 20-30 minutes.
• Sprinkle some flour over a workable surface or table and roll out a large circle of dough.
• Cut the dough into long strips about 1 inch wide and cut each of these strips into 1 inch wide to make a square.
• Combine the group meat, onion, salt and spices and blend into a smooth paste.
• Put a small pinch from this meat paste in the middle of each square of pastry and pinch the two sides in the shape of a boat. 

• Coat the bottom of a baking tray generously with oil and arrange the manti boats side by side.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the bottoms and tops of the manta boats are slightly brown.
• Heat the chicken broth and blend in the tomato and pepper paste. Pour over the baked manti in a bowl until the manti absorbs the sauce. 
• Combine the yogurt and the mashed garlic.
• Serve with yogurt sauce on top and enjoy your hard work!

Manti crew!

-Tara