Servings: 4-5

Preparation: 1 hour

Cooking Time: 1 hour

 

Ingredients

Dumplings:

1 lb. halal ground meat

2 onions ground in a food processor

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh crushed garlic

1 tsp. ground coriander

½ tsp. ground black pepper

4 chopped onions

1 packet Won-ton wrappers

steamer to cook the dumplings

 

Topping:

1 chopped onion

3 tbsp. oil

1 small can tomato paste

½ cup lentils (chana daal)

½ tsp. garlic crushed

½ tsp. salt

 

Yogurt:

4 cups of Desi Natural Dahi yogurt

1 small tub of lebne (kefir cheese)

juice extracted from 1 lemon

½ clove of garlic, crushed

1 tsp. ground mint

salt to taste

 

Garnish:

ground mint, sumac, chili powder

 

Directions

Dumplings:

  1. Remove won-ton wrappers from fridge and keep at room temperature.
  2. Combine ground meat, ground onions, salt, garlic, coriander, and black pepper in a frying pan with two cups of water.
  3. Cook on high until it starts boiling. Reduce the heat to medium, stirring from time to time, until the meat cooks.
  4. Once cooked, let the meat cool down and combine with the chopped onions.
  5. Take each wrapper and dampen one side with water.
  6. Place 1 tsp. of ground meat stuffing in the middle of the wet side of wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half and seal the edges and pinch shut. At this point it should look like a rectangle that is bulging with stuffing.
  7. Coat the dumplings with oil and place beside each other in a steamer.
  8. Place water at the bottom of the steamer and place on stove.
  9. Boil the water on high for 30 minutes.

 

Lentil Topping:

  1. Place the lentils in 2 cups of water and put on high heat until it boils.
  2. Reduce heat to low until lentils cook but do not let it disintegrate.
  3. Strain lentils and set aside.
  4. In a frying pan, stir-fry the chopped onion until golden brown.
  5. Add the garlic and stir-fry for another minute.
  6. Add the tomato paste, a cup of water and salt. Mix well.
  7. Cook on medium until the oil surfaces.
  8. Add lentils to the tomato paste-onion-garlic mix.
  9. Gently mix and cook for a couple of minutes.

 

Yogurt:

  1. Mix the yogurt, lebni, garlic, lemon juice and mint.
  2. Whisk until mixed well. If the consistency is too thick, add some water and mix.
  3. Once the desired consistency is obtained, add salt to taste.

 

Presentation:

  1. Spread half the yogurt mix in a platter, place dumplings over it.
  2. Pour remaining yogurt over the dumplings.
  3. Spread the lentil topping over the yogurt.
  4. Garnish with mint, sumac and chili powder. Serve!

 

Chef’s Note: Growing up, I saw Mantu served only at very special dinner parties, because of the time and effort involved. But once you sink your teeth into Mantu you will realize it is well worth the investment. A special steamer, sold at Chinese stores, is required to make Mantu. It is a big pot with three tiers. The bottom tier holds water and the second and third tier, which have many circular holes, hold the dumplings. Whenever I make this dish it is for a dinner party, so I use all three tiers. Do not place dumplings on top of each other as they will not cook well.