Afghan mantu

Ingredients

• Flour500 g
• Water230 ml
• Minced beef500 g
• Onions — finely chopped4
• Yellow split peas200 g
• Thick yoghurt500 ml
• Garlic5 clove
• Tomato paste2 tbsp
• Ground coriander1 tsp
• Dried mint2 tsp
• Vegetable oil80 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Knead a dough from the flour, water and salt, work it ten minutes and rest it forty under film.

   52 min

2. 2

   Mix the mince with the finely chopped onion, salt, pepper and coriander. Add no water.

   12 min

3. 3

   Boil the split peas forty minutes until soft, with a spoon of tomato paste and salt.

   45 min

4. 4

   Crush the garlic with salt, stir it into the yoghurt and thin it with water to pouring consistency.

   6 min

5. 5

   Roll the dough thin and cut it into eight-centimetre squares.

   20 min

6. 6

   Add the filling and bring the corners together crosswise, leaving four open corners.

   25 min

7. 7

   Steam twenty-five minutes. Set them on a layer of yoghurt, spoon over the pea sauce, more yoghurt, and dust with mint.

   30 min

About the dish

There is as much onion in the filling as meat. It supplies the moisture — the filling cooks in its own juices and no water is added.

There are two sauces and both are obligatory: garlic yoghurt beneath and above, the split pea sauce between them. Without either, mantu is considered unfinished.

The yoghurt is thinned to the consistency of pouring cream and always salted with garlic. Thick yoghurt will not spread beneath the dumplings and the bottom layer stays dry.

Worth knowing

• — The steamer rack has to be oiled. The dough sticks fast, and no mantu comes off whole after that.
• — The pea sauce should be thick but pourable. If it sets, loosen it with the cooking water rather than plain water.
• — Crumble the mint between your fingers over the dish; it releases far more scent that way than shaken from a jar.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

640 kcal

Protein

30 g

Fat

26 g

Carbs

70 g

More from Afghanistan

• Kabuli pulao — Rice with lamb under a layer of caramelised carrot, raisins and almonds. Afghanistan's national dish.