Sulu Manti (Manti Soup) is an Armenian soup featuring beef-stuffed dumplings simmered in a tomato broth. It's the ultimate bowl of comfort on a cold winter's day.
3 ½cups(440 grams) all-purpose flourplus more as needed
Meat Filling:
10ounces(285 grams) ground beef
3tablespoonsminced onion
2 ½tablespoonschopped parsley
1 ¼teaspoonskosher salt
1teaspoonpaprika
¼teaspoonground black pepper
Soup:
4tablespoons(57 grams) unsalted butter
2 ½cupscanned crushed or ground peeled tomatoes
6cupschicken broth
6 ½cupswater
5clovesgarlicminced
½cuplemon juice
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoonskosher salt
1tablespoonpaprika
½teaspoonground black pepper
1(15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed(optional)
2tablespoonsdried mint
Instructions
Beat together the eggs, water, salt, and olive oil.
To make the dough by hand, fill a large mixing bowl with the flour and make a well in the center. Add the wet ingredients to the well. Slowly incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients until a ball of dough is formed. Alternatively to make the dough in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the flour to the mixer bowl, then add the wet ingredients and mix for 3 to 4 minutes until smooth and pliable. If the dough is sticky add a bit of flour as needed, and continue to mix/knead the dough until smooth. Cover the dough with a tea towel and set aside for 30 minutes.
Mix together the ground beef, onion, parsley, salt, pepper, and paprika until well incorporated. Refrigerate until needed.
Lightly dust 2 baking sheets with flour to keep the manti from sticking until they are ready to be boiled.
Using a hand-cranked pasta roller or a rolling pin, in batches roll out the dough until it's very thin, dusting the dough with flour as needed. If using the Kitchenaid pasta roller attachment, roll until #4 for thickness (see notes below).
On a lightly floured surface, cut each strip of dough into 1 ½ inch squares. Place ¼ teaspoon of meat filling into the center of each square.
You can shape the manti a couple different ways. For the first shape, pinch the two ends with your fingers as if you are going to form a canoe-shape, but then bring the two ends together in the middle to form a satchel, slightly overlapping and twisting the dough together in the center to seal it.
Alternatively, fold the manti into a triangle, sealing all the edges well. Pinch together the two opposite ends of the triangle to form a tortellini-like shape. Place the manti on the baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough and meat filling.
Start the soup by melting the butter over medium heat in an 8-quart stockpot. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes to heat through. Add the chicken broth, water, garlic, lemon juice, salt, paprika, and black pepper. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. When the mixture comes to a boil, carefully add the manti to the soup along with the chickpeas, if using. Reduce the heat to simmer, and cook the manti for about 10 to 12 minutes until tender, but not mushy. Add the dried mint and serve.
Notes
To roll the dough with a manual pasta roller or Kitchenaid pasta roller attachment: Cut off a 4 ½ to 5 ½ ounce piece of dough (approximate) from the large ball of dough in the mixing bowl, and cover the remaining dough with a clean kitchen towel. Lightly flour your work surface and the small piece of dough and carefully stretch and press it into a rough rectangle. With the pasta roller on its widest setting (usually #1 on the dial), roll the dough through the machine to flatten and stretch it. With the machine still on the widest setting, fold the dough back over itself and run it through the machine again. Do this 2 or 3 times total, lightly flouring the dough if necessary in between. Then one at a time, adjust the dial to the next widest setting (#2) and run the dough through the machine again one time. Then tighten it to next thickness and repeat. And so on. You'll do this until you reach your desired thickness. On the Kitchenaid pasta roller attachment we like setting #4 for the optimal thickness.
This recipe uses kosher salt (aka cooking salt, kitchen salt, coarse salt outside of the US). If you are using table salt, definitely scale down the salt as that is a saltier type of salt! The type of salt will make a big difference in how salty your food tastes, so keep that in mind.