Turkish ravioli...

Last Saturday, before my mom left, we decided to make a traditional Turkish dish called Manti (beef ravioli). It is a very good dish, but quite time consuming especially if you do it all by yourself. We thought it would be more manageable if we made it together.
 

It is a simple dough recipe...

Dough:
6 cups of flour
2 eggs
Salt
Warm water, as much as needed

You mix all the ingredients to make a soft dough. Similar consistency as pizza dough, I would say... I did not use the mixer and instead I did knead the dough myself old school, on a table cloth on the floor. Then you let the dough rest for an hour.

In the mean time you make the filling...

Filling:
2 lbs of ground beef (I used ground beef and turkey mixed)
1 onion (grated)
Salt to taste

The two main ingredients will look like this at the beginning, but will "marry" soon...

You take a piece of the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin with some dusted flour. Then you cut it into small squares approximately the size of a quarter, as seen below.

Then you place a piece of meat on each one of them.

Then you make each ravioli by pressing the opposite ends of the square together, They become very cute tiny pockets.

Then you realize you have to do this many, many more times. It is a little depressing at the beginning, especially if you are alone. It is important to have a friend or your mom around to calm you down and remind you that it will only take another hour to do all...

Then you put them on a greased baking sheet and bake them around 15 minutes at 350. They will be boiled before serving but baking makes them nice and crisp. Many Turkish cooks boil them directly without baking, which is perfectly fine.

If you want to freeze them, it is so much easier to do that if they are baked since they will not stick together. You can pop them in the freezer and boil them later. That's what we did with the extra.

Now lets' talk about how you serve it. I was so excited to eat it, I have failed to take any pictures. But I have found the following picture that reflects the traditional way to serve this dish...

There are two sauces at play here...(Enough for 4 servings)

Yogurt sauce
2 cups of yogurt mixed with one clove of mashed garlic

Butter sauce
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and 3 tablespoons of oil, add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of dried mint and 4 table spoons of water. Mix it well on heat until bubbly.

You boil a pot of water with salt, I would say 6 to 8 cups of water.

Then you put as many raviolis as you need in it. They should be loose and not too packed in water. Boil for 10 minutes, maybe 12. They should be tender. Then you take them out with a strainer to your plate...

Spoon the yogurt sauce (3 tablespoons should be good) on top of the raviolis and spoon the butter sauce on top (1 tablespoon, maybe 2 should be good) of the yogurt sauce.

Then you sit down and enjoy.

I had two plates...

But you know what, I did not feel guilty at all. I knew exactly what went into it and it was a low fat and yummy meal.