Afghan party dish · Steamed

Mantu Recipe (Afghan Beef Dumplings)

Lots of onion. Oil the steamer. Two sauces.

Recipe by Farwa ZeeshanTested in the NineFoods home kitchen

Mantu are steamed Afghan dumplings filled with spiced beef and onion, served under garlic yoghurt and a tomato and split pea sauce. They stick to the steamer and the filling turns dry. The fix is plenty of onion in the filling for juiciness, an oiled steamer, and steaming for exactly 25 minutes.

Prep40m

Cook30m

Servings4

kcal / serving540

LevelMedium

Jump to the method

The 3 laws of mantu

Why this recipe works

Plenty of onion

Little onion

Juicy filling.

Oiled steamer

Dry steamer

Stops sticking and tearing.

Both sauces

Yoghurt only

The tomato dal sauce is the signature.

Shopping and prep list

Ingredients

Servings

Tap items as you gather them · 0 of 0 ready

Dumplings

beef mince
onions, finely chopped
coriander powder, salt, black pepper
wonton or dumpling wrappers

Sauces

yellow split peas, boiled soft
tomato paste, garlic, chilli
yoghurt with crushed garlic and salt
Dried mint and chilli flakes

The NineFoods mantu gauge

Are they done?

Open one and check the filling.

Tap a stage to see what to do.

Method · 3 stages

Step by step

Filling and fold

No heat · 30 min

Mix beef, onion and spices.
Fill wrappers, bring opposite corners together and pinch.

Look for: folded mantu.

30:00

Steam

Medium · 25 min

Steam in an oiled steamer. Use the gauge above.

Look for: steamed mantu.

25:00

Sauce

Low · 10 min

Fry garlic and tomato paste, add split peas and water; simmer thick.

Look for: red lentil sauce.

10:00

Chef's troubleshooter

What went wrong? Pick the symptom

Why

Steamer not oiled.

Fix next time

Oil the steamer trays.

Why

Too little onion.

Fix next time

Use two onions.

Why

Overfilled.

Fix next time

Use a teaspoon of filling.

Why

Under-seasoned.

Fix next time

Season the mince well.

Swap smart

Ingredient roles and substitutes

Ingredient	Job in the dish	Swap with
Wonton wrappers	Dough	Homemade dough rolled thin
Beef mince	Filling	Lamb mince
Split peas	Sauce	Red lentils
Yoghurt	Sauce	Chakka (strained yoghurt)

After the meal

Serve, store, reheat

Serve with

Naan and salad; it is a full meal.

Store

Freeze uncooked 2 months.

Reheat

Steam 5 minutes.

How we tested this recipe

Tested in a home kitchen, not a studio

Recipe developed and tested by Farwa Zeeshan, who cooks and tests every NineFoods recipe on a regular home stove.

Cooked from start to finish with the exact quantities above for 4 servings, using both the metric and US cup measures.
Every one of the 3 stages was timed at the stove; heat levels and the 'look for' cues are what we saw in the pan.
The doneness check (are they done) and the troubleshooter come from batches that went wrong, and how we fixed them.
Reheating and storage advice was checked on leftovers, not guessed.

Read our full testing process

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