MANTI with MINCED MEAT - QUEEN OF PIES ON THE BALKAN

If you like burek, zelnik and maznik - you will definitely like manti (or mantii) too. Manti are known as queen of pies on the Balkan. Mantii are small dumplings, very popular among countries that were under Ottoman rule. The filling can be varied, but they are mostly prepared with minced meat. Kratovo is a city in Macedonia that is most famous for making manti.


Ingredients:

For dough:

• 700 g flour
• 1.5 teaspoons of salt
• 400 ml of water
• 125 g butter or margarine (for later applying on crusts)

For the meat:

• 1 head onion
• 500 g of ground meat
• 1 teaspoon of vegeta
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper oil for frying

Preparation:

1. Mix well flour, salt and water and knead a soft dough as for pie or zelnik. Leave half an hour to rest.
2. Then divide the dough into 8 equal balls.
3. Coat each ball with butter and allow to stand for about 20 minutes.
4. Each ball is pulled into a crust with a pancake size and is coated with butter or margarine, and aligned one on another, only the last crust isn't coated.
5. Then the stack of layers is stretched into a large rectangle with a thickness of 0.5 cm and cut into cubes 10 x 10 cm. I cut it into 30 equal squares.
   
6. Fry the finely chopped onion, and add the meat, add spices. Fry until meat gets brown color and the onions soften.
7. Apply from the filling on each square of the dough, connect the diagonal sides and align on a buttered pan with the side where they are connected facing the bottom (30x20cm).
   
8. When you have filled the pan, coat with melted butter and put them in the oven heated to 200 ˚C to bake for about 40 minutes. 
   
9. I coated them with 1 egg yolk and sprinkled some salt on top.