Manti are one of those foods that once you try them, you crave them.  They are melt in your mouth delicious and are really fun to make. Everyone has their own special way of making them but my mom made them with blue pumpkin mixed into the filling which made them juicy and super aromatic. This dish is traditionally made with cubed ram meat but I grew up eating it with ground beef and ground pork meat mixed together (which in my opinion is way better ;) ) . My husband and I love manti, and hope your family will too! Here is what you’ll need:

For the filling:

2 pound of ground or cubed meat of your choice (I used 1 pound of ground beef and one pound of ground pork

2 ½ cups white onion (cubed)

2 cups blue pumpkin (grated)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

(You can also add 3-4 tbsp of mayonnaise into the filling but I didn’t add any into these manti)

For the dough:

2 cups sifted flour

1 egg 1 tsp salt

1 cup water

You will also need:

 A steaming pot or мантышница

1. Mix together the water and egg in one bowl and the flour and salt in another.

2. Place the flour and salt mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer using the dough attachment tool. Turn the mixer on a low speed and slowly add the water and egg mixture into the flour mixture.  Let the dough mix on a low speed for 10-12 minutes. Then take out the dough and fold it with your hands making it into a ball. Lastly, wrap your dough with some plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

3. while the dough is mixing, it is a good time to cube your onions and cut, peel, and grate your pumpkin

4. Mix your meat, onion, pumpkin, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

5. Take the dough out of the plastic wrap and cut off a fist sized portion of the dough.  Place the rest of the dough under a large bowls.  On a lightly floured surface, with a rolling pin, roll the fist sized dough portion into a sausage or cylinder shape until it measures about 1 ½ inches thick. Then cut that into circles.

6. Flour the circles very lightly (otherwise they won’t shut properly) and roll them out until they are flat and measure about 1/8 of an inch.

7. Spoon in the meat mixture into the rolled out circles of dough (about one tbsp) (you can also add ¼ inch cube of butter on top of the meat mixture for added flavor) then shut the circles.

8. Grease the inside layers of the steaming pot with about 4 tbsp or half a stick of melted butter. Then place the manti into the layers with a bit of space between each one.

9. Fill the very bottom pot of the steaming pot half way with water and bring it to a boil. Then stack the layers with the manti already on them on top of the pot of boiling water and close the top layer with the lid. Turn down the heat a little and let the manti steam in the steaming pot until they are fully cooked (about 40-45 minutes). These are best served hot with ketchup, sour cream, or on their own! Happy cooking!