Mantı in the UK: what it is, how to order it, where to find it

Name: Mantı
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 300 g plain flour; 1 egg; 100 ml water, half a tsp salt; 250 g minced lamb or beef; 1 small onion, grated; salt, black pepper, half a tsp pepper flakes; 400 g thick yoghurt beaten with 2 crushed cloves garlic and salt; 60 g butter, 1 tsp tomato paste, 1 tsp red pepper flakes; dried mint and sumac to finish

Quick answer

Mantı are tiny Turkish dumplings filled with spiced minced lamb or beef, boiled and served under garlic yoghurt with melted butter, red pepper and dried mint. The Kayseri version is the reference: dumplings so small that forty are said to fit on a spoon. Making them is a family afternoon's work, which is why in the UK they are usually found in home-cooking restaurants, at Turkish delis frozen by the kilo, and on a few restaurant menus as a speciality.

Calories and nutrition

Calories: 620
Protein: 30 g
Carbs: 62 g
Fat: 28 g
Salt: 2.2 g

Portion: One restaurant portion, about 300 g, with garlic yoghurt and pepper butter.

Baked mantı (fırın) is richer, about 700 kcal.

Estimates for a typical portion, based on standard UK and USDA food composition data. Actual values depend on the recipe and the restaurant.

What mantı is

A stiff dough of flour, egg and water is rolled thin and cut into small squares; a pinch of seasoned raw minced meat with onion goes in the centre and the corners are pinched together into a tiny parcel. They are boiled for a few minutes, drained, and covered with yoghurt beaten with garlic and salt, then finished with butter heated with tomato paste or red pepper, and a scattering of dried mint and sumac. The dumplings are small enough that each spoonful carries several with the yoghurt and butter. Kayseri mantı is the smallest; other regions make them larger, bake them first, or serve them in broth.

Mantı versus other dumplings

People compare mantı to ravioli or to Central Asian manty, and the family tree runs through the Silk Road, but the Turkish dish is defined by its size and its yoghurt. Ravioli is served in sauce; mantı is served in yoghurt with butter on top. Central Asian manty are large and steamed. The Turkish version is boiled, small and sharp with garlic and mint. Some UK restaurants sell a baked mantı, fırın mantı, which is crisper and richer.

How to judge it

Small is the mark of skill; large mantı with thick dough is a shortcut. The dough should be thin enough that the meat shows through, cooked just past al dente, and the filling should be juicy. The yoghurt should be thick and properly garlicked, the butter poured hot so it stains the yoghurt red. Frozen mantı, which most restaurants use, can be very good if the source is a proper Turkish maker; hand-made in house is rare and worth paying for.

Where in the UK it is done well

A handful of North London restaurants make mantı by hand, and several Turkish delis in Harringay, Enfield and Edmonton sell hand-made frozen mantı by weight. It appears on lokanta menus and occasionally on ocakbaşı menus as a starter. The ranking below counts restaurants in our directory whose name signals mantı.

How to order it

Ask whether it is made in house or bought in; either can be good but the price should reflect it. Order it as a main; a full portion is heavy. Ask for extra garlic yoghurt and pepper butter. For home, buy frozen mantı by the kilo from a Turkish deli; it is a fifteen-minute dinner.

Where it's done well

UK councils with the most mantı specialists, by restaurant name, in our directory.

Restaurants near you

Search by postcode or use your location to find restaurants likely to serve mantı near you.

Make it at home

Serves 4 · 120 min

Ingredients

300 g plain flour
1 egg
100 ml water, half a tsp salt
250 g minced lamb or beef
1 small onion, grated
salt, black pepper, half a tsp pepper flakes
400 g thick yoghurt beaten with 2 crushed cloves garlic and salt
60 g butter, 1 tsp tomato paste, 1 tsp red pepper flakes
dried mint and sumac to finish

Method

Make a firm dough from the flour, egg, water and salt, knead for five minutes, wrap and rest for 30 minutes.
Mix the meat, onion and seasoning.
Roll the dough as thin as you can and cut into 2 cm squares. Put a tiny pinch of filling on each and pinch the four corners together over it.
Boil in plenty of salted water for four to five minutes until they float and the dough is tender. Drain.
Melt the butter with the tomato paste and pepper flakes until it foams.
Spoon the mantı into bowls, cover with the garlic yoghurt, pour the red butter over and scatter mint and sumac.

Smaller is better and takes longer; enlist help. Uncooked mantı freeze well on a tray, so make a large batch.

Related dishes

Pide

Pide is a boat-shaped flatbread with a soft, chewy base, filled with cheese, spiced minced meat, sucuk, spinach or egg and baked in a stone oven. It is often called Turkish pizza in the UK, but it is closer to a filled bread: thicker than lahmacun, longer than a pizza, and eaten sliced into strips with a squeeze of lemon. A pide salonu, a restaurant built around the pide oven, is one of the most reliable places to eat cheaply and well.

Lahmacun

Lahmacun is a very thin round of dough spread with minced lamb, onion, tomato, pepper and parsley, baked in minutes in a hot oven and eaten rolled up with lemon and fresh herbs. It is often called Turkish pizza in the UK, which undersells it: there is no cheese, the base is closer to a flatbread, and it costs two or three pounds. It is the cheapest good meal in any Turkish restaurant and the one dish that tells you whether the kitchen has a real oven.