Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kazakh Manti
Large Kazakh steamed dumplings filled with hand-chopped lamb, pumpkin and plenty of onion, served with sour cream.
Kazakh · advanced · serves 6
prep 60 min · cook 45 min
~654 cal · 28g protein · 62g carbs · 32g fat · 3g fiber · 7g sugars · 16g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Manti are the great steamed dumplings of the Kazakh steppe, larger than most and filled with hand-chopped lamb, sweet pumpkin and a near-equal weight of onion that melts down and keeps the filling juicy. Kazakh cooks insist the meat be chopped, never ground, so it keeps its texture and clear juices.
Folded into the four-cornered Kazakh shape and steamed, never boiled, in a stacked mantyshnitsa, they emerge tender and translucent. They are the centrepiece of Sunday family lunches and celebrations across Almaty, served with sour cream and a dish of chili.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 lb lamb shoulder, hand-chopped
2 cups pumpkin, finely diced
3 onions, finely diced
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup sour cream, to serve
2 tbsp , for the steamer
1 bunch fresh dill, to serve
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Make a firm dough from the flour, water and a little salt. Knead until smooth, cover, and rest 30 minutes.
2
Hand-chop the lamb into small dice, then mix with the pumpkin, onions, cumin, pepper and salt.
✎ Chef’s note
Chop the lamb by hand rather than grinding: the distinct pieces are what hold the juices.
3
Roll the dough very thin and cut into large squares. Place a spoon of filling on each and pinch the four corners up into a sealed parcel.
4
Oil the tiers of a steamer and arrange the manti with space between them, since they swell as they cook.
5
Steam over vigorously boiling water for 45 minutes until the dough is translucent and the filling cooked. Serve with sour cream and dill.
Kazakh steppe cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Almaty. The city is named for its fruit. The wild forests in the Tian Shan foothills around Almaty grow Malus sieversii, identified by genome studies as the primary ancestor of every cultivated apple in the world, and the name is usually explained from alma, the Kazakh word for apple.
🗺️
Kazakhstan. The steppe pantry is preserved by necessity. Kazy and shuzhuk are horse sausages, the first made from rib meat packed into casing; baursak are squares of fried dough piled up for guests; kumis is mare's milk fermented in a leather or wooden vessel and drunk cold. What ties them together is a herding year rather than a growing season.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kazakhstan
Beshbarmak"Five fingers": boiled meat over wide noodle sheets with onion gravy, Kazakhstan’s dish of honor, eaten by hand.
BaursakFluffy yeasted fried dough puffs served warm with butter, jam, or honey and tea.
KuyrdakA hearty fry-up of meat, potato, and onion, the celebratory dish traditionally made when an animal is freshly butchered.
Browse all Kazakhstan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer.
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
Make it a Kazakhstan meal
KumisDrink
ZhentDessert
KuyrdakLunch
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kazakh Manti?
Large Kazakh steamed dumplings filled with hand-chopped lamb, pumpkin and plenty of onion, served with sour cream.
Where does Kazakh Manti come from?
Kazakh Manti is a Kazakh dish from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Can Kazakh Manti be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kazakh Manti recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kazakh Manti safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kazakh Manti take to make?
About 105 minutes total (60 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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