# Turkish Manti with Yogurt

> Turkish manti is **very small** — each piece roughly the size of a fingernail. The size is not a decorative detail: small pieces cook in 5 minutes and carry a high ratio of sauce to every mouthful. Large ones are just ordinary dumplings.

**Turkish Cuisine · 90 min · 5 servings · 480 kcal per serving**

Manti comes from Kayseri in central Turkey, and it is said the perfect manti is forty pieces on a single spoon. Thin dough filled with meat, boiled and covered in garlic yogurt and paprika butter — the contrast of cold and hot is its secret.

## Ingredients


### Dough
- 3 cups — flour
- 1 حبة — egg
- 0.75 cup — warm water
- 1 tsp — salt

### Filling
- 300 g — minced meat
- 1 حبة — onion, grated and squeezed
- 1 tsp — salt
- 1 tsp — black pepper
- 1 tsp — paprika
- 0.25 cup — chopped parsley

### صوص الزبادي
- 600 g — thick yogurt
- 4 cloves — garlic, crushed with salt

### الزبدة
- 80 g — butter
- 1 tbsp — paprika
- 1 tsp — tomato paste
- 1 tsp — dried mint
- 1 tsp — sumac

## Method

1. **The dough** — Knead the flour, egg, water and salt for 10 minutes into a firm dough and cover it for **30 minutes**.
2. **The filling** — Grate the onion and **squeeze it** (its water tears the dough), and mix it with the meat, spices and parsley.
3. **Roll** — Roll the dough very thin (under 2 mm) and cut it into **2×2 cm** squares.
4. **Fill** — Put a lentil-sized amount of filling on each square, lift the four corners up and pinch them together into a tiny purse.
5. **Boil** — Boil in salted water for **5 to 7 minutes** until they float and swell. Drain and keep a cup of the cooking water.
6. **Yogurt sauce** — Mix the yogurt with the salted crushed garlic and loosen it with two spoonfuls of the warm cooking water — fridge-cold yogurt closes off the flavour.
7. **Paprika butter** — Melt the butter over low heat, turn off the heat, then add the paprika, tomato paste and mint and stir for **just 20 seconds** (paprika burns fast).
8. **Serve** — Put the manti in the dish, top with the yogurt sauce, then the red butter, and dust with sumac and mint.

## Tips

- Make the pieces as small as you can — small size is the definition of Turkish manti.
- Squeeze the onion water out, or the filling wets the dough and it opens in the water.
- Butter off the heat with the paprika added after — paprika burns in seconds.
- They freeze raw beautifully on a tray then in a bag — boil from frozen with two extra minutes.

## FAQ

### How is it different from Levantine shish barak?
Shish barak is larger, hat-shaped, and cooked in the yogurt itself. Manti is much smaller and purse-shaped, boiled in water with the yogurt poured over cold.

### Manti takes forever — is there a shortcut?
The filling is the long part. Make a large batch and freeze it — one session covers 3-4 meals.

### Can I bake it?
Yes — in Kayseri they brown it in the oven first for 15 minutes at 200°C, then boil it in broth for 10 minutes. The flavour is deeper.

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Source: https://hanakoleah.com/en/turkish-cuisine/turkish-manti-with-yogurt
Edited by: Marwa Mohamed
Last updated: 2026-09-13