Nothing says home like mom’s cooking. 🥟
My mom is the best cook ever. She always tries to cook different meals from different countries and this Mantu “dumplings” is one of the best food she’ve made. It’s very easy, it contains ground meat filling cooked in spices and copious amounts of diced onions. They are then steamed and layered with two different sauces – a yogurt and mint sauce and a tomato-lentil one.
Ingredients
1 pack of wonton wrappers or homemade mantu dough
Mantu Filling
3/4 lb ground meat (beef, lamb, or plant-based)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 cups diced onion
3 garlic cloves (minced)
salt (to taste)
2 Tbsp cilantro
2 Tbsp oil
Yogurt Mint Sauce
1 cup yogurt
1 Tbsp dried mint (or to taste)
1 garlic clove (finely minced)
salt (to taste)
Tomato-Lentil Sauce
1/4 cup diced onion
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tomatoes
1/8 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove (minced)
2 tsp channa daal (yellow split-peas soaked overnight)
salt (to taste)
Instructions
Filling
In a pan, heat up some oil. Add in your ground meat.
Once the ground meat turns brown, add in your salt and diced onions. Allow the onions to soften and cook down.
Now add your spices. Cook for a few minutes. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Toss in the cilantro. Set aside and allow to cool.
Once cooled, it's time to fill the wrappers. Take about a teaspoonful per wrapper. Fold the edges using water.
Steam the mantu in a metal or bamboo steamer until the wrapper becomes translucent and almost clear.
Yogurt Sauce
Combine the yogurt, mint, and minced garlic. Add salt and taste and adjust for seasonings.
Tomato-Lentil Sauce
Add a tablespoon or so of oil into a pan. On medium-high heat, sautee the diced onion.
Add your salt. Once the onions turn transluscent, add the tomato paste. Allow it to cook down and caramelize.
Now add your spices and chopped tomatoes. Add water and bring to a simmer.
For the channa daal (also known as yellow split-peas), make sure to wash and soak it in water overnight. You can add it to the tomato sauce or boil it separately. (Note – the daal can take longer to cook in the tomato sauce, so I would recommend quickly boiling it in a small pot separately and then adding it to the tomato sauce).
Taste and adjust for seasonings.
Assembly
In a serving dish, add a layer of the yogurt sauce, then the mantu, then top with more yogurt sauce and the tomato-lentil sauce. Finally top with a little bit of olive oil and more dried mint. Your mantu is ready to serve.
This 🔥🔥😍😍😍😍