Real Manti

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 850 ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 1,000 g flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 kg minced pork
• 800 g pumpkin flesh from juicy pumpkin varieties
• 3 onions
• Oil (sunflower oil)

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour

steamed dumplings with tender meat and pumpkin filling

Make a dough from 650 ml milk, eggs, flour, and 1 teaspoon of salt. If you have a bread maker, the “dough” function works great – but don’t let it rise, just knead. Shape the dough into a ball, sprinkle with flour, wrap it in a piece of foil, and refrigerate for 1 hour to ensure the dough is nice and even. Meanwhile, coarsely grate the pumpkin flesh. Finely chop the onion. Blend the minced pork, pumpkin, and onion into a smooth paste, then add the remaining milk, salt, and pepper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, form it into a “sausage” about 4 cm thick, and cut it into pieces about 2.5 cm thick. Roll out each piece of dough on a floured surface into a circle about 3 mm thick. Place 1 tablespoon (or heaped) of the meat mixture in the center. Then gather the right and left sides together at the top center and press firmly together at the seam, leaving the ends open. Then firmly press the top and bottom ends together, ideally using a slight twisting motion (see the instructions for my recipe “Russian Dumplings with Sauerkraut”). The dumpling now has the shape of the letter “H” with a very extended central connecting line and looks something like a pillow with a seam at the top and protruding corners. In the final step, take the top and bottom corners of the pillow on the right and left sides and pull them together at the sides; then pull the corners together slightly and press firmly together to create a circular shape. With a little practice, this will become easy; you just have to make sure that the edges are sealed very tightly so that the juice from the finished manti doesn’t leak out. Dip each manti (that’s what the manti are called individually) generously in oil (so they don’t stick together during cooking) and place them in the sieve inserts. Leave about 3 cm of space between each manti. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in the steamer. Stack the sieve inserts filled with manti on top of each other and then place them on the main pot of boiling water. Cover with a lid and place a cloth over the top to prevent steam from escaping even through the smallest cracks. If the lid gets hot, reduce the heat. Cook for a total of 30 to 35 minutes. Carefully remove the manti from the sieve inserts to prevent the dough from tearing and the juices from escaping. Serve immediately. Serve with sweet and sour Asian sauces, slightly thinned with 9% vinegar, or if you prefer something spicier, see my “Adzhika” recipe.