Armenian Manti (Baked Lamb Dumplings)

About This Recipe

Armenian manti are tiny, boat-shaped or open dumplings of thin dough pinched around a filling of seasoned ground lamb or beef, arranged tightly in a baking dish and roasted until the edges turn golden and crisp before being doused with hot broth to steam through. The final dish is served under a generous blanket of garlicky yogurt and a drizzle of sizzling paprika butter or a light tomato sauce, making it as much about the sauce as the dumplings themselves. Unlike boiled Central Asian manti, the Armenian version's baking step gives the exposed filling a toasty, slightly caramelized edge that boiled dumplings never develop. It's a labor-intensive, deeply satisfying dish traditionally made in large batches for gatherings, with pinching hundreds of tiny dumplings often a shared, multigenerational kitchen task.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 400 gall-purpose flour
• 1large egg
• 150 mlwater
• 1/2 tspsalt
• 350 gground lamb (or beef)
• 1small yellow onion, grated
• 2 clovesgarlic, minced
• 1/4 cupflat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 tspground cumin
• 1/2 tspsweet paprika
• 1 tspsalt, for filling
• 500 mlchicken or beef broth, hot
• 500 gplain whole-milk yogurt
• 3 clovesgarlic, minced, for the yogurt sauce
• 3 tbspunsalted butter
• 1 tspsweet paprika, for the finishing butter

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Whisk flour and salt. Add egg and water and mix to a firm dough. Knead 8 minutes until smooth. Wrap and rest 30 minutes.

2. 2

   Mix the filling

   Combine ground lamb, grated onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, paprika, and salt in a bowl, mixing just until evenly combined.

3. 3

   Roll and cut

   Roll the dough out very thin (about 2 mm) on a floured surface. Cut into 4 cm squares.

4. 4

   Fill and pinch

   Place a small teaspoon of filling in the center of each square. Pinch two opposite corners together over the filling, leaving the ends open like a tiny open boat, so the filling stays visible.

5. 5

   Arrange and bake

   Preheat oven to 200°C. Arrange the manti tightly, standing up, in a single layer in a well-buttered baking dish. Bake 20–25 minutes until the exposed filling and dough edges are golden and lightly toasted.

6. 6

   Add the broth

   Pour the hot broth over the baked manti, enough to come about a third of the way up the dumplings. Return to the oven for 10–12 minutes until the dough has absorbed some broth and softened while the tops stay slightly crisp.

7. 7

   Make the yogurt sauce

   While the manti finish baking, whisk the yogurt with the minced garlic and a pinch of salt in a bowl.

8. 8

   Make the finishing butter

   Melt butter in a small pan over low heat and stir in paprika until fragrant and the butter turns a rich red-orange, about 1 minute.

9. 9

   Serve

   Spoon manti and their broth into shallow bowls. Top generously with the garlic yogurt, then drizzle the paprika butter over everything just before serving.

Variations

• •

  Use ground beef instead of lamb for a milder, more widely available version.

• •

  Swap the plain tomato-free broth for one with a spoonful of tomato paste stirred in for a richer, reddish broth.

• •

  Some families skip the yogurt sauce entirely and simply serve the manti in their broth with a squeeze of lemon.

Storage

Refrigerate baked, sauced manti up to 2 days; the dough will soften further as it sits. Reheat gently in a covered dish in a 160°C oven, adding a splash of broth if it looks dry.

Frequently Asked Questions