- Turkish
Manti: A Colorful Holiday Dish
- BY DANA JACOBI
- AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR CANCER
RESEARCH
Preparing for
a holiday, many Americans get together to bake desserts like
cookies. For festive occasions in Turkey, cooks get together
and make manti: tiny, meat-filled pasta topped with garlic-pungent
yogurt and a spicy tomato sauce. They make great holiday appetizers.
I first learned
about manti through friends in Houston. Preparing manti, cooks
compete to make them as small as possible. No matter the shape,
they aim for manti small as the top joint of your little finger.
This requires
rolling out the dough as thinly as possible, a skill that requires
practice and a lot of time. I prefer a more carefree, easier
alternative: ready-to-use won ton wrappers.
Making the
filling and yogurt sauce for manti is simple - neither requires
cooking. For an authentic tomato sauce, simmer a pound of chopped
plum tomatoes until soft, about ten minutes, with a minced garlic
clove, a pinch of red pepper flakes and a tablespoon of extra
virgin olive oil.
Filling the
manti can be fast work if you enlist a few friends, neighbors,
or family members to help. Working together can also be fun
as everyone chats, fills, folds, seals and sips hot cider.
Manti - Makes 64 manti,
or 16 servings of 4 each
3 cups low-fat
unflavored yogurt
3 garlic cloves
1 t/sp. salt
1/2 pound lean ground turkey
1 small onion, finely minced
1/4 cup finely minced flat-leaf parsley, lightly packed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
32 wonton wrappers, cut in half diagonally
Canola cooking oil spray
Commercially prepared tomato sauce
Drain yogurt
in a sieve lined with a coffee filter or paper towel and set
in a bowl, until liquid drained into the bowl leaves 2 cups of
thick yogurt. (If yogurt contains starch or stabilizers, draining
time will be prolonged; in this case, leaving yogurt in the sieve
and bowl in the refrigerator overnight is recommended.)
Add garlic
and salt to yogurt and mix until yogurt is creamy. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, use a fork to mash turkey with onion, parsley,
salt and pepper. Work the mixture until dough-like, about 4
minutes.
Cover a non-stick
baking sheet with a light coating of flour. Set out a small
bowl of warm water. Using one-half wonton wrapper at a time,
lay one over the fingers of your left hand (if you’re right-handed;
if not, do the reverse). Place 1/2 teaspoon filling in the
center of the wonton. Use a fingertip to moisten edges of wonton
with water. Bring the right corner to the left and press edges
together to seal manti. Place on floured sheet. Repeat, making
64 manti. (Leftover filling can be used to make more manti or
cook as hamburger patties.)
Lightly coat
a non-stick baking sheet with canola oil spray and place near
the stove. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then reduce
heat to a gentle simmer. Add manti, 16 at a time, and cook for
2 minutes after they float to the surface. Transfer manti with
a slotted spoon to the oiled sheet, being careful manti don’t
touch each other. Repeat with remaining uncooked manti.
Serve manti
warm (heat gently in microwave), topped with 1/2 cup yogurt and
a dollop of spicy tomato sauce. If refrigerated or frozen after
cooking, lightly spray manti on all sides with canola oil spray
before placing in containers.
Per serving:
103 calories, 2 g. total fat (less than 1 g. saturated fat),
14 g. carbohydrate, 7 g. protein, less than 1 g. dietary fiber,
356 mg. sodium.
_________________________________________________
“Something
Different” is written for the American Institute for Cancer
Research (AICR) by Dana Jacobi, author of The Joy of Soy, and
recipe creator for AICR’s Stopping Cancer Before It Starts.
AICR offers
a Nutrition Hotline (1-800-843-8114) Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. ET, a free service that allows you to ask a registered
dietitian questions about diet, nutrition and cancer. The American
Institute for Cancer Research is the only major cancer charity
focusing exclusively on the link between diet, nutrition and
cancer. The Institute provides a range of education programs
that help millions of Americans learn to make changes for lower
cancer risk. AICR also supports innovative research in cancer
prevention and treatment at universities, hospitals and research
centers across the U.S. The Institute has provided more than
$62 million in funding for research in diet, nutrition and cancer.
AICR's Web address is www.aicr.org. AICR is a member
of the World Cancer Research Fund International. |
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