Mantu
Mantu is such a wonderful food to eat because it’s a source of my childhood. When I think back to my childhood, mantu comes to mind. It is a celebratory food and it kept everyone in high spirits, including me. Mantu is similar to Chinese dumplings except there’s an Afghan infusion to it. Mantu is my favorite food because it represents my childhood, good memories, art, eid, and my culture. It’s more than just food, it’s symbolic.
The making of mantu is artwork. It’s time-consuming but definitely worth it. It’s usually made by multiple people because alone would take too much time. The most time-consuming part is the actual folding of the flour dough. Mantu is one of the pricier and high-end foods thus only made during special occasions. The savory taste of the filling with the wheat dough is a perfect balance and cannot be compared to any other food.
You start by making the filling first using ground beef, onions, cilantro, black pepper, and many other spices. Then the wheat flour skin is laid out in square pieces and an intermediate amount of filling is placed in the center. Then it must be folded to look presentable. Presentation is key. You can get creative with the folding process to keep the filling inside. “My favorite part would be folding the mantu to my liking and making my own style out of it”. Once you have the folding down with your desired style, you dip the bottom of the mantu into oil and onto the five-tiered steamer. Once all the layers are filled, the mantu is prepared to be steamed. After the mantu is steamed, they are very gently taken out of the steamer and set onto a large round dish. Then you take the home-made sauce, which consists of diced tomatoes, peas, pesto beans, and a variety of spices. The sauce can also be made differently to your liking. Then home-made yogurt is put on top but in a zig-zag motion. Then cilantro is sprinkled on as the final touch.
One of my earliest memories is eating mantu on Eid. I am surrounded by friends, family, music, and food. I’m playing with sprinklers with the rest of kids and we’re about to break the pinata and its savory smell is all around me. It’s time to eat food and of course, everyone desires mantu. Early on I learned that everyone eats mantu differently. Some eat it whole, cut it into pieces, add more sauce or cilantro. All the time and effort put into mantu can be tasted as I cut it in half and taste the sauce on the mantu. It was the only thing that got me to eat cilantro which was the cherry on top.
Whenever my extended family comes over from all around the country, mantu helps unite us all and bring us closer. Whenever there’s a good vibe, there’s mantu. I also remember many nights when mantu was craved and we made it satisfy our desire. “Mantu is a communal dish”.
The summer of 2018 took me to New York where I was visiting friends and family. I was sitting with my friends at a New York City restaurant that makes mantu and could smell it before it came. The city was filled with smells and not all of them were pleasant but mantu overpowered all of them. It was brought to my table and it looked exquisite as if it had been home-made. Getting mantu made the right way is important as well because the recipe is from Asia, so very few chefs and restaurants are able to get it correctly. The sauce to mantu ratio was correct and of course, it had the cilantro sprinkled on top.
I also have a vivid memory of when I was visiting Kabul, Afghanistan, the origin and home of mantu. I am with my family and friends and we’re making our way to one of Kabul’s popular restaurant. There are the sounds of traffic and taxis and the smell of dust in the air. We pass many shops filled with juicy watermelons, mangos, and bangles. We also pass by a dried fruit shop and then finally reach it. The smell of kabab and mantu would reach your nostrils. There’s a variety of dishes that include mantu but I order just mantu. And it tastes so amazing and flavorful. It was pretty clear that it had been made in Kabul due to the delicacy of the flour not being too thick or thin and the symmetric folding as well.
Mantu represents my childhood, good memories, art, eid, and my culture. It has always been there during important events throughout my life and I even had the opportunity of tasting it in Kabul. It has always made every occasion special and unforgettable. Mantu literally and figuratively spices things up!
(Kabul, Afghanistan)
Recipe
- First, you’re going to make the filling of the mantu by having some ground beef
- mix cilantro and onions into the beef
- Add spices of your own choice to make it spicier. You could add black pepper, red pepper, salt, garlic, turmeric powder, ground coriander, oil, and paprika
- Then either make or you can buy egg roll wraps
- Put some of the beef mixed with other spices into the middle of a square wrap
- Fold to your liking
- Once they’re all folding, put the bottom of mantu into oil and place on tiered steamer
- Put some water on the bottom layer of steamer
- While cooking you can make the sauce by getting some tomato paste on a bowl and adding, 2 cans frozen vegetable mix, 1 chopped onion, cloves of garlic, minced, 1 spoon of turmeric, salt, and black pepper.
- Heat all of these ingredients over a pan
- Place mantu onto dish and spread sauce over
