Homemade Afghan Mantu

Gorgeously seasoned beef and onion, wrapped up in a soft dough, sat on a herby yoghurt dip and topped with a flavourful tomato sauce. These Afghan Mantu are the perfect dish for your next dinner party! 

Afghan Mantu Dough

I feel like there’s a common misconception that when you make dumplings, you have to make bucket loads of them. Luckily for you, that is SO not the case. All of my 'Around The World In 80 Dumplings' recipes are made for one serving. 

Therefore, for one portion of Afghan Mantu dough, you will need:

• 150g all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 80ml warm water

If you’re making dough for the first time, don’t fret! It’s much easier than you think. Once you’ve combined the three ingredients and a dough starts to form, simply dust a board with flour and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is bouncy and elastic. Then, just cover and set aside for 15 minutes to rest.

The Meat & Onion Filling

Unlike other dumplings where the filling ingredients are raw, Afghan Mantu filling is cooked before constructing the dumpling. Combine beef mince, onion, and several flavour enhancing ingredients in a pan and fry until cooked. You can then optionally leave the filling to cool, so it’s easier to handle.

Folding Mantu Dumplings

Despite the end result looking like an intricate, origami-style folding technique, they are actually very simple to fold.

Once you've placed a couple of tsps of your filling into the centre of the square wrapper, you want to bring all four sides up to the centre and seal down each crease. This will form a square parcel (like a little picnic satchel). Next, you want to pinch two corners and bring them together. Repeat this for the other side. The result, is that you've created a binocular-style design that looks like an edible flower once you've added on the toppings!

Afghan Mantu Sauce + Toppings

Despite these dumplings being delicious solo, the herby yoghurt dip and flavourful tomato sauce elevate this dish to another level. The synergy between the meat-filled dough balls, tangy yoghurt, and umami-filled tomato sauce makes these Afghan Mantu irresistible. 

For the yoghurt sauce:

• 2 tablespoon plain yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced

For the tomato sauce:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tin of tomatoes

About my Dumpling World Tour Series

I've set myself a challenge to go around the world in 80 dumplings. Why? Because so many countries share a love for dumplings and every country’s dumplings have their own unique twist. From Vareneki in Ukraine to Banh Bot Loc in Vietnam, dumplings are a way for us to celebrate various cultures and culinary differences from all parts of the globe.

Not all my dumpling recipes are up on my website, yet! So, if you’d like to check them out, head on over to my Instagram for the video tutorial and full recipe!