A plump woman walks down the street and a beggar approaches her:
- Madam, I haven’t eaten anything for five days...
- Oh, I would like your will!!!
Yes, I would also complain about the lack of will if I were offered delicious, juicy, hot manti!

Manti, mantu or buuz, poses are a traditional meat dish of the peoples of Central and Central Asia, Turkey, Mongolia, Korea, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Crimea. The word manti, borrowed by the Russian language from the Turkic languages, presumably comes from the Chinese “mantou”, “stuffed head”, or, as a homonym, “barbarian head”.

The latter names, of course, are not entirely appetizing, and we will be closer to our native land by calling our dish “manti” as our parents and grandparents called them.

Before we start making manti, we will choose which manti we will prepare. There are many options - from form to content. From size to cooking method.

For example:
Kava manta

Kava is a pumpkin that is used as a filling in equal parts with lamb. Prepared for steam. A variety of kava-manta is khoshan, fried manti. Such manti are first fried in vegetable oil until golden brown, and then they are placed in a pressure cooker until cooked. This method of cooking allows you to get rid of harmful substances formed during frying, and at the same time leaves the taste of the fried product.

Jusai manta ray

Prepared for steam. The jusai plant is used as filling. This is a branchy, fragrant onion, a perennial herbaceous plant of the Allium family, which has all the properties of onions and garlic. The leaves, which have a unique onion-garlic taste, are eaten. All parts of the plant are edible.
Can be used with lamb or separately.

Boldurgan manta ray

Prepared for steam. This dish uses yeast dough. The manti turns out “lush”, that is, “boldurgan”. The filling is either only meat (lamb) or meat along with jusai. And they also say that such yeast dough is prepared in winter.
So, we will consider that we have made our choice and today our loved ones, our beloved ordinary Uzbek manti, will grace our table and enjoy eating it.

Let's start with the filling.

Most often, minced meat is made from lamb, but options from a mixture of different types of meat are possible. Various options with a mixture of pumpkin and meat are popular; vegetarian - from pumpkin, potatoes, mushrooms.

Instead of pumpkin, you can use carrots or another vegetable that, when boiled, can give a little juice for juiciness and softness of the meat. In the coastal regions of China, even shrimp are used as the main component of minced meat. Some people use pork, camel, goat, and poultry for minced meat. Who likes what or who is used to what.

The most important point in preparing the filling for manti is not to use a meat grinder or blender. Only a sharp knife and hands can cut the meat efficiently, while simultaneously removing everything unsuitable for manti. But keep in mind - these trimmings are wonderful material for broth! It's better not to throw anything away.

The meat is finely chopped into cubes with a knife, and fat and onions are also cut, which are taken in a 1:2 ratio. The more onions, the juicier the filling will be. The main spices for manti are cumin, salt and black pepper; we can’t do without them. The remaining spices - cumin, red pepper, garlic, marjoram, coriander and basil - are added to taste, making the minced meat somehow especially tasty and aromatic.

We start cutting the meat into strips and chop into squares. The minced meat in manti should be crumbly, so it is chopped with a knife and not with kitchen hatchets. A meat grinder or food processor is not suitable because they both knead the meat and make the minced meat more sticky. Also chop the fat tail fat into 0.5 cm pieces with a knife. Cut the onion into thin half rings. It can be fried for a different taste. For traditional manti, a lot of onions are cut - it is the onion and lard that should form that delicious broth in the manti, and only thinly chopped onion releases juice during heating.

Mix onions, meat and lard. The manti filling should be juicy. In order for the onion to release its juice, the minced meat must be kneaded by hand. If you don't want your hand to smell, wear a thin rubber glove. Press the minced meat down a little to remove excess air so that the meat and onions fit tightly together. Leave the filling to marinate for 30 minutes.

Now let's make the dough.

Unleavened dough for manti is made from water, salt and flour, sometimes with the addition of eggs. To obtain a soft and elastic dough that does not tear, even if it is rolled out too thin, take water and flour in proportions of 1:2. For 500 g of flour, 1 egg is enough, and if you want the dough to be especially tender, you can replace the water with milk. Some housewives first bring the milk to a boil, and then add it to the dough, since the choux pastry retains the liquid inside the manti well during the cooking process.

Mix salt and water. You can add yolks. Knead the dough well and make a ball out of it. We wrap it in film and set it to “rest” for 30–40 minutes. If the room is hot, it is better to put it in the refrigerator. If the temperature is medium, leave it on the table.
Cut the settled dough ball in half and roll one half into a circle with a layer of 1-2 mm. Wrap the remaining dough in film and set aside. Ideally, the dough should be so thin that the filling is visible, since the art of making manti is judged primarily by the thickness of the dough. It is important not to overdo it, otherwise the dough will tear. Cut it into squares from 10 to 15 cm. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of each square. We connect the sharp corners on opposite sides of the square cake at the top, and pinch the new corners formed at the bottom together on the sides. The adjacent corners of the quadrangular star are molded together in pairs, forming ears.

Some housewives form ropes from the dough, cut them into pieces, roll each piece into a ball and roll it out thinly with a rolling pin. The diameter of the resulting pancake must be at least 10 cm. Place the filling in the middle, lift the circle of dough by the edges on opposite sides and connect it, do the same with the other edges of the pancake. The corners are pinched diagonally and the manti are ready. In Asian cuisine, another method of making manti is used - the filling is placed in the middle of the pancake, then the dough is lifted from three sides and combined beautifully.
There are many forms of manta rays - choose the ones that seem simplest and cutest to you. Before cooking, manti is sometimes left for 10 minutes, covered with a towel, and only then they begin to cook.

Manti, as we know, are not boiled in water like dumplings. They are cooked only by steaming, and most often a specialized kitchen utensil, a pressure cooker, is used for this purpose. It consists of two pans with a lid, placed on top of each other. Water is poured into the lower pan, and the bottom of the upper pan resembles a colander through which steam penetrates.

Before starting cooking, you need to grease the manti sheets with melted butter, or you can grease the bottoms of the manti themselves or simply dip them in it. Place the manti on the sheets of the pressure cooker, but not too close to each other.

Do the same with frozen manti, and there is no need to defrost them before cooking. Typically the cooking process takes about 40–50 minutes.

While our manty mushrooms are boiling and steaming, we can set the table with different pickles, prepare salads and sauces, which are certainly important attributes when serving.

Before serving, appetizing manti are poured with melted butter, sprinkled with black pepper and fragrant herbs. This dish is served with sour cream, mayonnaise, horseradish, mustard, spicy tomato or yogurt sauce, vegetable salad or meat broth. A popular seasoning is sour milk (katyk) or fried onions, black and red pepper. In addition, mint, basil and other seasonings are added.

Uyghur manti are eaten with “lazjan” - a seasoning made from red pepper seasoned with vegetable oil. Also popular is “cobra” - a seasoning made from tomatoes, hot peppers and garlic.

Manti are best eaten hot, enjoying their bright oriental taste and aroma. This is a real delight for lovers of Asian cuisine. But like dumplings, the remaining cooked ones can be reheated the next day or fry the manti in a frying pan with butter until golden brown. Believe me, it is very, very tasty.

Of course, manti is one of the most delicious and favorite types of food in Uzbekistan. Manty is not just a tradition. Manty is a feast, a wonderful time spent among family and friends. This is a great opportunity to prepare for future use before receiving any guests, including unexpected ones. This dish can be a wonderful hot treat for any holiday table.

Bon appetit!

BELA FELDMAN

Manti is a special dish. Perhaps uninitiated people consider them “just big dumplings,” but this is far from the case. Not a single Uzbek will agree that manti can be boiled in water and filled with minced meat, passed through a meat grinder. No, these thin dough products are cooked exclusively by steaming, and what is put inside is nothing more than chopped lamb meat, certainly flavored with cumin. And a lot of onions. A lot - at least as much as lamb.

After all, it is the onion that gives manta rays their famous juiciness. They are eaten with their hands and served with special gravy, which is called manti sauce.

Sauces for manti: recipe

Moreover, there are a great variety of them: for every taste, using a variety of ingredients. Today we will talk about manti rays.

First option

One of the traditional sauces is katyk sauce. True, in our country few people even know this oriental fermented milk product, not to mention the fact that katyk can be bought somewhere. However, it doesn’t matter! It is quite forgivable to replace it with a mixture of sour cream and kefir or natural yogurt without additives.

So, sauce for manti made from katyk. To get it, you need to mix not too fatty sour cream with yogurt (kefir) in equal parts, add a lot of finely chopped parsley and cilantro, squeeze out a couple of cloves of garlic and season with black and red pepper.

Another sauce - called "Santan"

No less popular is the sauce for manti “Santan”. To prepare it you will need vegetable oil, garlic and red hot pepper. The oil needs to be heated thoroughly in a small bowl or saucepan. Separately, mix a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste with ground pepper, squeeze a few cloves of garlic into it. Pour hot vegetable oil over the tomato mixture and leave for 15 minutes, then pour it over the steaming manti.

The well-known Uzbek sauce

And, of course, Uzbek-style manti sauce. For it you need to take a glass of broth, half a glass of tomato juice, 2 onions, a couple of cloves of garlic, as well as vinegar, butter, bay leaf, ground pepper, dill and salt. This sauce for manti needs to be boiled. But first you should finely chop the onion, squeeze out the garlic, mix them with tomato juice and, adding broth and bay leaf, bring to a boil.

Cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat, add salt, pepper, chopped dill and let sit for a while, covered. Then strain the warm sauce, add a piece of butter and a little vinegar and serve.

A spicy option for those who love dishes with pepper.

There is another sauce, spicy. For it you will need half a glass of refined hot adjika and black pepper. Garlic should be cut into thin slices, mixed with a tablespoon of adjika and added sunflower oil. Stir until smooth, pepper and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Onion-vinegar sauce - an easy option

By the way, this is the simplest sauce for a dish like manti. We need one onion and 200 grams of vinegar. The onion must be finely chopped.

Then you should marinate it in vinegar for about 20 minutes. Then you need to generously sprinkle with herbs and dilute a little with cold water. That's it, the sauce is ready!

Mustard sauce

For those who love spicy dishes, we suggest making mustard sauce. To create it we need mustard, olive oil, and herbs. Take the first two ingredients in 2:1 proportions (mustard and olive oil). Mix, then add herbs and sesame seeds. Next, you need to mix everything thoroughly again.

By the way, a little advice at the end - you should not dip manti in any sauce. These products are eaten with your hands. First, the edge is bitten, resulting in a hole, and the sauce is very carefully placed into it with a spoon. If you eat manti like this, you can feel the pristine taste of the dish. Note that the meat juice mixes very appetizingly with any sauce.

A little conclusion

Enjoy your meal! We hope you liked ours. You can prepare them without difficulty, which means that your family will enjoy spicy and sour gravy for manti more than once. Don't be afraid to experiment - that's the main thing!

Anyone who sees these stuffed envelopes for the first time has a question: how to eat manti? Meanwhile, this is not difficult at all. Moreover, the right choice of sauce can make this oriental dish even tastier.

What are manti?

Manty or mantu is a traditional dish for almost all Turkic peoples. The word "manti" is borrowed from Chinese and means "stuffed head." True, each region has its own name, as well as traditions of preparing and eating this dish. But this is definitely a steamed envelope made of thin dough with a juicy filling.

Like most oriental dishes, manti is more convenient and correct to eat with your hands. This is the only way to preserve all the juice that the filling releases. By the way, the rules of eastern good manners stipulate that you will not eat the corners of the dough by which the manti was held. Manti is served hot and on a large platter with plenty of herbs (parsley, cilantro, basil). Greens help break down and absorb fatty foods. A good addition to manti would be such an oriental appetizer as pickled onions. It is very simple to prepare: the onion is cut into rings and soaked in a marinade of water, vinegar and sugar. After this procedure, excess bitterness disappears from the onion. This manti onion is generously sprinkled on a dish or served separately.

Manti is served with sour cream (pure or with finely chopped herbs) and various tomato sauces (sweet, sour, bitter, but always with a lot of oriental spices). A sauce made from fresh tomatoes is considered classic: the tomatoes are grated, hot peppers, garlic and a lot of herbs are added to them. By the way, if sour cream is too fatty for you, you can replace it with kefir or yogurt.

Another interesting sauce can be made based on strong meat broth. There you need to add a little butter, herbs, ground black pepper. Some people think that you need to add a little vinegar to this sauce, but this is purely a matter of taste.

In general, connoisseurs of the real taste of this dish assure that no sauces are needed for manti. You need to take them by the tail, bite them and enjoy the filling’s own juice, or, as a last resort, dip the manti in melted butter.

What are manti stuffed with?

The classic filling for manti is minced meat with the addition of a large amount of onion. Of course, like most oriental dishes, lamb or nutria meat is used for minced meat. In our conditions, the use of pork, beef and even chicken is allowed. The main condition is that the minced meat should not be too dry, so you should add more fat to it. It's best if it's lamb fat. There is one little secret - for juiciness, add grated or finely chopped pumpkin to the minced meat. By the way, manti can be generally lean; you can use potatoes, cabbage or a mixture of any ingredients as a filling. Of course, minced meat for this dish cannot be imagined without spices and fresh herbs.

Proper behavior at the table, how to eat correctly, how to hold a fork and knife, whether to take a sip of water before answering a question and much more - makes communication in a restaurant enjoyable. Awkward moments are no longer frightening, and ignorance of basic norms of behavior is no longer burdensome. In response to an appointment in a restaurant, one feels not panic, but confidence and comfort.

How to eat different foods correctly?

Eating outside the established etiquette can cause unpleasant emotions in those sitting next to you. You shouldn’t rush too much, it may seem that your interlocutor is unpleasant; you can eat everything, but you shouldn’t wipe the plate. You should eat with the right knives, spoons or forks, or even with your hands, it is important to know when and what to use.

Take those products that will not stain them. They are not cut into pieces. placed on a plate or directly into the mouth:

• bakery products, including cakes and cookies;
• sugar (not sand) - in the case of no tongs attached to it.

Dumplings, manti, khinkali

Russian dumplings or manti or Georgian khinkali are very popular in the restaurant. The difference is in the method of preparing the minced meat and in the form of the dough. Different preparations affect how to properly eat dumplings, khinkali and manti in a restaurant.

Any cooking method dumplings involves the presence of a large amount of moisture in the meat, which wants to leak out when bitten. But a spoon is not required by etiquette. Dumplings, like dumplings, are properly eaten by clinging to the edge. It immediately ends up all in your mouth with the broth. The large size is a disadvantage for the restaurant, since the dumplings will have to be divided into parts, and the juice will leak into the plate.

Size manti significantly more classic dumplings and the cooking method is steamed. The juice that drips from the minced meat collects inside and should be drunk immediately after the first bite. This unique product is eaten with your hands. There is no sauce served with manti, so the right choice would be green tea.

It turns out that it is correct to eat manti with your hands, but in exceptional cases, serve it with a spoon. We are talking about very small manta rays in a Turkish restaurant or in an Asian country.

When they eat khinkali, no broth or sauce needed. They are juicy and filling. They are also eaten with their hands. You need to hold it by the improvised tail, which must be present in real Georgian khinkali. Next, a bite is made and all the juice flowing from inside is drunk. Immediately after, everything except the dense dough of the tail is consumed. Mineral water or red wine in addition - this is how to properly eat khinkali.

Fried eggs, pasta and meat

The decision to have breakfast in an elite setting is an equal risk for the one who eats the food and the one who serves it. According to strict rules of etiquette, the table must be served with a knife, fork and teaspoon for fried eggs.

How to eat properly fried eggs: using all cutlery. First, we puncture the yolk and drink it from the teaspoon where it leaked out before. The spoon is no longer needed; it can be removed to the edge of the plate. The protein is cut with a knife and sent to the mouth on a fork. After eating, all three utensils remain on the plate.

Neatness and ease in eating - this is what table etiquette is for. Enjoying a meal and looking neat afterwards is part of social etiquette.

With serving omelette You can also easily make a mistake. According to etiquette, it should be served with two serrated forks - if these are airy beaten baked eggs (one fork for slicing, the other for bringing to the mouth), or a teaspoon - if an omelette of whipped whites is served as dessert.

It's very difficult to stay neat while eating pasta, But spaghetti You can also eat according to etiquette.

In spoon and fork, this means that you should take the spoon with your left hand and lower its edge into the plate. With your right hand, take a fork and carefully wrap the spaghetti around it. Use a spoon to trim off any excess. There is nothing stopping you from putting the portion wrapped around a fork into your mouth.

You should operate more quickly with one fork, lifting it and letting it fall back into the plate, winding up the spaghetti so that there are no long ends left that you just want to tighten with sound. The secret to eating spaghetti with a fork is that you need to wrap no more than two, or maximum three, pasta on the fork.

If a piece of meat is served as a side dish, you should not cut it all into small pieces if the restaurant is in Russia and not in the USA. The required piece is cut off from the far end with a knife and directed into the mouth with a fork. No knife needed if served sliced. With a fork in your right hand, you pick up a piece and put it in your mouth. The knife is also used when serving sliced ​​meat only if the smoked meat is served with hard skin.

Chopped meat meatballs, cutlet, meatballs You should not cut with a knife. Its use is justified in cases where dividing into pieces is impossible otherwise.

How to eat pancakes and other foods correctly

A dish that should be eaten hot - pancakes. In society, they are served on a huge platter in the center of the table with a device that allows everyone to pick up a pancake on their plate. Cups with fillings are placed around:

• filleted salmon or pitted herring;
• salted porcini mushrooms or caviar in vases with a separate spoon;
• rosettes with sour cream, honey and fruit jams with separate spoons;
• grated ham or cheese, pieces of omelette, etc.

Each person is personally given cutlery, using which the pancakes are cut and put into the mouth. There is no shame in eating the pancake with your hands before dipping it. Oily hands can be wiped with a napkin, this is acceptable. You should not scold a child if he decides not to use a knife.

It has become fashionable to serve salty ones on the table instead of salt. olives. They are often served without removing the seeds. It is correct to eat them with your hands, biting off and eating the pulp. The olive pits are also removed from the mouth by hand. Of course, if it's a salad, then you need to use a fork.

Sitting at a common table, it is indecent to send a spoon with caviar directly into the mouth. You should first put it on the bread. A sandwich with red caviar can be cut and eaten in pieces.

Knowing how to use a fork and knife correctly or take it with your hand in time - all this will allow you not to be embarrassed in good company and feel confident. Bon appetit.

Gourmets know the unique taste of real manti. Their smell fills the entire body and causes uncontrollable flows of hungry saliva. And when there is no more strength to endure, after a long 45 minutes, a whole dish of steaming manti is finally placed on the table, and the feast begins.

Manti is a real feast for the stomach! Believe me, anyone who has tried this dish at least once will forever remain among its ardent fans and devoted admirers.

There are manti in the cuisine of all Asian and Eastern countries, but this dish is called differently everywhere. The origin story, as always, has no historical confirmation and is more like a legend. What is absolutely certain is that manta rays come from China.

Historians of the Celestial Empire say that this dish received its name after a certain Chinese commander was unable to cross a small but very stormy river. Liang Juge was recommended to pay for the crossing by making a sacrifice. The spirit of water needed fifty heads of barbarians. This is what the priests said, and it is not customary to argue with them.

Showing ingenuity, the cunning Chinese deceived both the priests and the spirits. He ordered meat pies to be steamed and molded to resemble a human head. Liang Juge called them "manty" or "mantou", which in one translation means "barbarian head", and in another - "stuffed head". The trick was a success, and the name stuck with the dish.

What manta rays were called before is no longer clear. Perhaps one of the surviving names was the first. The Uyghurs call them buuz; in the countries of Central Asia they say poses or bozy. In many areas of China, manta rays also have different names. More often they are called mantou or banzi. The most interesting thing is that not only the names, but also the recipe of this dish do not match. But they still say that manti has been prepared.

The dough for making classic manti is mixed with water and flour, salt is added. Eggs are not added to this dough. Therefore, the statement that for manti the dough is kneaded like dumplings is completely wrong. The structure of the dough for these products should be different. And the elasticity, which is so necessary for making dumplings, is completely unsuitable for manti. As a last resort, you can only add the yolk. The egg white will make the dough rubbery. The dough should rest for at least two hours. During this time it needs to be kneaded several times.

The actual filling will take an hour to prepare. Manti meat is the most tender lamb. It must be fresh, not frozen. Finely chop both meat and onion. In order for the manti to be juicy, the volume of onions should be two-thirds of the amount of meat. All this is cut into small cubes. Then salt and pepper, be sure to add cumin, crushed with your fingers.

A small but very important secret. If you add a little milk or water to the minced meat, the manti will be unusually juicy. Try this once, and very soon the manti without this addition will not seem juicy to you.

Let the minced meat sit for about twenty minutes so that the smell of onions and cumin permeates the meat. Now roll out the dough very thin. Manta rays are sculpted differently in each country. Somewhere they make a cross, somewhere they leave a hole, and in some places, according to ancient tradition, they still depict a head. Choose how to sculpt it yourself; it doesn’t affect the taste.

They are cooked in mantyshnitsa. This is a specially shaped pan with several tiers. They have flat aluminum plates with holes on them. Water boils in the lower part, steam flows evenly through the holes. This is how manti are cooked.

The “Achik-chuchuk” salad is prepared for manti. This is thinly sliced ​​onions and tomatoes until translucent. They are salted, peppered, finely chopped basil leaves are added and garnished with pomegranate seeds. You can put sour cream or cream on the table. Just never serve mayonnaise with manti. With its heaviness it will simply kill the unique, subtle taste of this dish.

By the way, the word “manti” does not have a singular number. You should say: “Manti, one piece.” The inventive Russian language added the suffix “-yshk” to the incomprehensible and not very convenient to use word, and the result was a delicious mantyshka.

The filling of manti can be different. If you mix lamb, beef and pork (and the Chinese do this), eaters will get a real culinary shock. Manti with potatoes is very tasty. You just need to put a small piece of butter in each, otherwise it will be a little dry.

Manti is prepared with chicken and pumpkin. Sometimes all these ingredients are mixed. Meat, potatoes and pumpkin are delicious! Manti, which are made from yeast dough, have a very interesting taste. So manti is a field for realizing the creative ideas of every housewife!