Manti – Vegan Kazakh Dumplings (Week 66, Kazakhstan)

This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are a one for one what you’ll find in their country, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!

Recipe Notes

Kazakh cuisine is very meat heavy, specifically mutton and horse. Because of this I opted to use vegan ground beef to keep it meaty. Alternatively you can probably use something like lentils or more pumpkin, but you’d want to add more pepper and spice to it.

I was too lazy to make a sauce, but to serve you can optionally make some kind of onion or vegan yogurt based sauce to serve. After making these they honestly didn’t need it since they were quite peppery.

Roasting the pumpkin takes an hour. You can do this in advance or do at the same time you’re cooking / prepping your other ingredients to cut down on the overall time spent in the kitchen.

Vegan Manti

Details

Servings

3 dozen

Prep time

60 minutes

Cooking time

90 minutes

Ingredients

Dough
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Water, cold
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Salt
Filling
1 pound Vegan Beef (I used Beyond Beef)
1 Pie Pumpkin
1 Yellow Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
2 tablespoons Black Pepper, ground
1 teaspoon Salt

Directions

Roast Pumpkin
Preheat oven to 350F. Slice pie pumpkin in half and scoop out seeds.
Oil a baking sheet and place each open side of the pumpkin down. Roast for 50 minutes or until fork tender. (Prepare dough and filling while cooking.)
Once cooked, allow to cool enough to remove skin. Discard skin.
Prepare Dough
In a bowl or stand mixer mix salt and flour together.
Add water and oil and knead until it forms a dough. Dough should be shiny but not sticky. Add small amounts of additional flour or water as needed to get the right consistency. Set aside until ready to assemble.
Add pumpkin to a large bowl and mash until smooth. Set aside.
Prepare Filling
Mince garlic and dice onions.
Heat up a large pan to medium heat. Once up to temperature, add oil, garlic, and onions. Sauté until onions start to turn translucent.
Add vegan beef to onions and garlic. Sauté until browned or fully cooked. Remove from heat and add to bowl with mashed pumpkin.
Add salt and pepper to the bowl and thoroughly mix the contents. Add additional salt and pepper as needed to taste.
Assembly
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s about 1 to 2 millimeters thick. Cut dough into circles with a cookie cutter (mine are about 3 to 4 inches) until you run out of dough.
In each dough circle add about a tablespoon of filling to each one. Use the sealing method of your choice. I chose to fold and pinch into rounds see in the photo. Repeat this process until you run out of dough and/or filling.
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Lightly oil your steamer basket and add the manti. Work in batches, allowing each batch to steam for at least 6 minutes or until dough is fully cooked.
Enjoy immediately hot or save for a comforting lunch.