Hi everyone, my name is Alper, I am 21 years old and I am studying English Language Teaching at Sinop University in Turkey. Moreover, I love cooking food, because I love eating food. That's why I am going to write food recipes in this blog.

The fourth recipe of my blog is Mantı (Turkish Ravioli)

Ingredients:

• Dough: You don’t need many ingredients for homemade manti dough. Flour, egg, salt, and water are all you need. We sometimes make it with whole wheat flour, but all-purpose flour is better.
• Filling: We use ground lamb or beef, finely chopped onions and parsley, salt, and black pepper. We use a little tomato paste too, but it's optional.
• Water to boil: We boil the dumplings in plain water, but some recipes add chicken broth or beef broth to the simmering water. This takes the taste of the final dish to a whole new level for sure.
• Yogurt sauce: We combine yogurt with salt and mashed garlic. If you are using strained yoghurt you may need to add a little water to thin it.
• Spicy butter sauce: We use a combination of butter and olive oil, but you can make it with butter only. As for the spices, we use red pepper flakes aka pul biber in Turkish. You can use aleppo pepper, paprika, or chili too. Also, we use dried mint. We don't recommend leaving dried mint out. Even if it is new to you, give it a chance. The smell and taste will be heavenly!

Directions:

First make the dough by combining flour, eggs, salt, and water until everything holds together. Knead it for 5-10 minutes. It won't be a very soft dough. We make the dough with our hands, but you can use a food processor or a stand mixer if you want. Cover the dough ball with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. In a medium bowl, combine ground meat, finely chopped onions, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Now roll the dough out with a rolling pin. It doesn't have to be very thin. You can use a pasta roller for this step if you have one. Make it about 2mm or 1/16 inches. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut it first into strips and then into small squares.

Then shape the dumplings. Put a little filling on each square and close them up one by one to give each a bundle shape. How? As you see in the pictures below, first fold the tiny square into two and seal all the opposite corners of the dough in the center. Then you have this bundle-like shape. It takes us no longer than 20 minutes to finish them all!

Next, cook the dumplings in hot water just like you cook pasta. Heat 4 cups of water in a pot and add the dumplings when it boils. Let them cook until softened for about 10 minutes. Transfer them into bowls with a slotted spoon.

Finally, prepare the sauces and serve. For the garlic yogurt sauce, mix yogurt, salt, and garlic. For the butter sauce; melt butter and add olive oil. Add in dried mint and red pepper flakes, and stir. Remove from heat after about 20 seconds.