Every culture seems to have their own dumpling. Armenians have manti, little boats, usually stuffed with ground lamb or beef. Out of the oven, they are golden, crunchy and savory. Then, they are thrown into a broth lightly blushed with tomato and topped with a dollop of yogurt. This soup is warming, comforting and very filling.
Making manti was a family production. My sisters and I would join our Mom in the kitchen and we’d all have a hand in creating these little boats. Our Mom usually handled the dough (don’t get scared off yet, there is a super easy shortcut that doesn’t involve you making any dough at all!). We all worked around the table together filling and pinching (and talking and laughing, loudly, I’m sure) until trays and trays of the manti made their way in and out of the oven burning the fingers of those of us eager to test them.
Manti
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 clove garlic minced (optional)
In a medium bowl, combine the ground beef, onion, garlic, allspice, 1 tablespoon of the tomato paste and salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread out some waxed paper on a counter or table to protect the surface. Keep the wonton wraps under a damp towel to prevent them from drying out. You’ll need a small bowl of water for each person helping out. I like to work in batches. I lay out about ten to fifteen squares at a time, then using a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon I drop that amount of the meat mixture onto each square. Dip your fingers in the bowl of water, wet the outer edge of each square of dough and bring up the sides, pinch together while pushing down toward the table to create the little boats you see in the picture. Place each manti onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Continue until you’ve used all of the meat mixture.
Bake the manti on the center rack in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until crispy, golden and crunchy. My oven can be very uneven, so I check often and rotate the sheet halfway through.
While the manti are baking, bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add 3 tablespoons tomato paste and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning. Add salt and a bit of pepper if needed.
Once the manti have baked, you can immediately throw them in to the pot of broth. I like to take the pot off of the heat and let them sit for maybe 5 minutes.
Serve in bowls topped off with a healthy dollop of the yogurt. You can mix the minced garlic into the yogurt if desired. That is the traditional way to eat it. Personally, I like it plain.
Notes:
- The wonton wraps come in 3 inch squares. Cut them in half in both directions to get 1 1/2 inch squares.
- You can make batches of the dumplings and freeze them for later use. Just make sure to pre-freeze them on the baking tray for about a half hour in your freezer after they have cooled completely. Then put them in a zipper bag.
- The bowl used in the photo above deserves some credit! For the past several years, my friend Pat and I attend a fundraiser called Empty Bowls http://www.emptybowls.net Their purpose is to raise funds to end hunger. Potters donate some beautiful bowls in which guests are served soup. The guests take their empty bowls home to remind them of the cause. Pat was kind enough to give me her bowl…I think she knew I was eyeing it up! So, if you are interested, you can go to their site to see if there is an Empty Bowls event in your area.
Growing up, my dad always made something that sounds really similar to this; we called it Monta soup, and what it was was the ground beef and the broth, but instead of having dumplings, the ground beef was cooked on its own and we added small shells to the broth. he could never remember what his mom (the full-blooded Armenian in our family) adapted Monta soup from, but this sounds like what it was.
I’m so glad this brought back those memories for you! Monta sounds like a deconstructed version of manti! How delicious! Thanks for sharing that!
My Armenian mother called what Spain described as “mock manti” She made both the “regular” manti with her own homemade dough (my sister, my aunt & I were the pinchers) and the mock kind when in a hurry.
I love that you shared that memory here, Gertrude! Thanks so much. Isn’t it sweet how food can do that?
I was searching and finally found this recipe! I am so excited. My husband and his siblings talk about this all the time and now I can’t wait to make it for them. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that, Nancy! That’s so sweet of you to make it for them…I hope you all love it! Let me know how it goes! xo
I’m so excited to try this recipe for Manti as it’s similar to the one my relatives used. My grandmother and great aunts and all of us little cousins would sit around a giant table, stuffing these little boats as well as other Armenian dishes (like Sarma) and laughing and talking like you and your family did. Such great memories.
My father would make these as a special treat when I was younger, and he would make the boats just big enough to stuff dimes into the meat in about half of the boats. This made for a fun night of finding “treasure” in our dinner and we were very careful to cut open the boats so that we didn’t chip a tooth or worse. At the end of the evening, we would count our money – I can assure you every bowl was empty and everyone had seconds, so we were all full to the gills, though some of us were richer than others.
I saw another recipe elsewhere that said to add the Manti to the broth only when serving, but I remember distinctly my grandmother always boiling the boats for a bit and as they floated to the top she proclaimed they were ready and the eating began!
Thanks again. My brother will be so excited when I bring these to his house this weekend. (He’s been craving them!)
I am so happy to hear this recipe brought back memories for you, Michelle! Thank you for sharing that story. Your family sounds like so much fun! Yes…I’ve seen recipes that call for just pouring the broth over the manti, but we really like it simmered just that little bit. Hope you and your brother enjoyed this! :)
Caroline, I love that you updated the Choereg recipe……….it looks just like my mom’s. By the way, we have a friend in common, Carina Beylerian. I love your blog!!! Great recipes. Thank you.
~Marisa Megurian Moder
So sweet to hear from you, Marisa! I love that the choereg reminds you of your Mom’s! That’s my favorite bread ever, really. Carina is the sweetest, isn’t she…she’s my baby cousin and I love her dearly. Thanks so much for stopping in and taking the time to comment! xo
Your manti story brings back many fond childhood memories of making manti with my mother. Thanks for sharing, along with the suggestion to use wonton wraps instead of the traditional dough.
So nice to hear from you, Ani and share that same experience. Every time I make Manti, all of those memories come back. I hope you get a chance to try it with the wonton wraps. They make it so much easier!
Do I put the meat in the boats raw?
Yes, Whitney…you fill the wonton wrap with the raw meat mixture then pinch the wrapper closed. The meat will cook in the oven. Hope you love it!
These look delicious! My armenian grandmother never made them :( I will have to try them myself. Do you have any suggestion for a vegetable I could add to the soup?
Hi Meg! I am so excited for you to try this…I know you’ll love it! It’s one of my most favorite Armenian recipes! I’ve never added vegetables to the broth before, but you certainly can. The broth is very simple, just a hint of tomato. You could add any vegetables you like to this: onion, carrots, celery, peas and even spinach. Let me know how it turns out. I’d love to see how you like it!
Neel, You’ve just made my whole day. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! You put a smile on my face!
I just found your site a few days ago, and I LOVE it, beautiful and so interesting, and good recipes. Wonderful, thank you.
So cute your Mantis !
Great blog
Fatiha from Algiers
Thanks so much Fatiha! I’m so glad you like the blog and it’s so sweet of you to take the time to let me know.
Many thanks,
Caroline