MANTI - SMALL BALLS FILLED WITH MINCED MEAT

I made manti for the first time in my life. As I expected, they are in a way like maznik in bites. Similar to minced meat dumplings. Wonderful knead food, very well known in the Macedonian cuisine as maznik and originally under the name manti are made in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Bosnian preparation, after baking, the manti are poured with sour milk and garlic sauce and returned to be roasted for several more minutes. In my opinion, there is no need for topping, that's why I made them like this.
The procedure is simple and fast. I used twice the given quantities, formed 1 dough that I divided into 2 parts, from one part I rolled maznik (the previous recipe) and from the other, I made the manti. So, u'll need only 1 dough with the following ingredients.

 Ingredients:

 Dough

  • 300 g flour
  • 170 ml of water
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • half a teaspoon of salt

For sprinkling and coating

  • 50 ml of oil
  • 50 g melted butter or margarine

Filling

  • 250 g minced meat
  • 1 chopped head onion
  • a little salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation:

  1. Knead the dough with the flour, water and salt. If it is very sticky, add a little flour and vice versa, if it is hard, add a little water, although I think there will be no need for either. Knead about 10 minutes. I leave it to be a little sticky and at the end I put 1 tablespoon of oil on my palm, I coat the dough and knead it a little more. The stickiness disappears and the dough remains soft. For knead dishes, the dough should be soft but non-stick. If it's sticky, you will not be able to work with it. Place the dough on a floured surface and form a ball.
  2. Immediately spread the ball with the help of a rolling pin into a crust 5-6 mm thick (the size of a pizza).
  3. Coat the crust nicely with oil on top and cover it with nylon foil. Leave for 30 minutes for the oil to soak into the dough so that you can later stretch the crust.
    One for manti, one for maznik
  4. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Fry the chopped onion and add the minced meat. Fry for about ten minutes and finally add salt and black pepper to taste.
  5. Then, take a cotton sheet and lay it on the table. Take the crust with your hands and carefully transfer it to the sheet. You'll see how soft it became.Start pulling it with your fingers. You will see that the dough has become elastic and easy to stretch.
  6. Turn the pull into a game and spread it in a circle form on all sides. Usually when it starts to become translucent, that is the maximum of the pull. You should get a thin crust with a size of over 1 square meter, and you have started with a circle with a diameter of 20 cm.


  7. Spray the whole crust first with the mixture of oil and melted butter, and spread the filling at the end of the crust as in the picture.

  8. Then, lift the sheet on one side and start wrapping the crust. Repeat on all sides and roll inwards. Then cut the bark in half, wrap it and cut small rolls of 6-7 cm.

  9. Wrap them at the ends and arrange them in a non-stick circular pan size 24.. 

  10. Top with a mixture of oil and butter and bake at 200 C degrees for about half an hour or until golden brown.

  11. After baking, sprinkle with water and cover briefly with a kitchen towel.