ROSE SHAPED MANTI, MANTEE, MANTE

These dumplings in Turkish are called manti and it’s one of those dishes everyone craves all the time. It’s not an easy dish to make for most people, so they may not prefer making it at home. I admit that it’s a bit time-consuming if you are making it alone& from scratch, but I can’t say that it’s a difficult dish. It might take hours to make these small dumplings depending on the amount you want to make. Time is the real concern here.

Well, I have a couple of easy hacks for you. Yes, it’s a little different than what a traditional Manti is, but it has the same amazing flavor and takes such little amount of time to make it that you’ll start making these all the time. So, the first hack is to use gyoza/wonton dough as opposed to needing your own dough. Yes, I know, some people really prefer the homemade dough. To tell you the truth, I prefer this wonton dough because I love the way it crisps up in the oven. The second trick is to make the mantis rose shaped instead of the tedious little pieces. It takes a quarter of the time. Another bonus, they look so good and presentable that they’ll be the stars of any dinner party you’ll be hosting.

Ingredients:

• 2 packs round gyoza skin

• 1/4 cup melted butter to brush on the mantis

• 1 cup chicken broth

• Yogurt

• Garlic cloves, finely minced or squeezed

• Red Pepper

• Sumac

Filling

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon allspice

• pinch black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Grease the baking pan.

3. In a bowl, combine all the filling ingredients and mix well.

4. Place a bowl of clean water by your side. Place three of the gyoza skins on a cutting board, overlapping like the picture below, wetting the overlapping areas with water in order to stick.

5. Place a full teaspoon of that meat filling onto the dough and shape like picture below. Fold up short sides (horizontally) over length of filling, then pat down and start rolling from one end to another forming a rose shaped cylinder. Wet the end of the dumpling dough to stick.

6. Place onto the greased pan, and repeat until done. Make sure they do not touch each other so they do not stick.

7. Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden color.

8. Meanwhile, boil some chicken broth and whip the yogurt and garlic till smooth and pour each into a bowl to serve on the side.

9. Serve with a splash of chicken broth, yogurt and a dash of red pepper powder or sumac.

If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a photo and hashtag it #EATDRINKPLAYLA. I'd love to see how yours turned out!

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