There is a saying that mantı, the traditional pasta dumplings stuffed with meat, should be so tiny that 40 of them should fit onto a spoon – at least that's the "proper" way to do them, they say. Either someone had too much free time on their hands or the spoons were simply much bigger "way back when." I suppose it is a bit of both.

Just one day before Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, the stuffed Italian pasta tortellini has its own day of celebration, which makes it all the more a great occasion to celebrate both the Italian and Turkish versions of this doughy delight. Tortellini are said to come from the Italian region of Emilia, and in particular, Bologna and Modena, and are traditionally stuffed with a mix of meat, some cheese, egg, nutmeg and some broth. If cheese, spinach or other leafy greens fillings are used, they are referred to as tortelloni. Meanwhile, mantı is a specialty of the central Anatolian province Kayseri and is mainly stuffed with meat, onions, red pepper flakes and black pepper. After cooking, it is usually served with garlic yogurt and a spicy butter sauce. As much as Gaziantep is known for its cuisine and even recognized as such internationally, Kayseri is aiming for the same recognition when it comes to mantı.

Though best keep in mind that there are quite a few other variations of these dumplings. Ravioli are a bit different, so are ravioletti. For mantı goes the same. There is the Bosnian mantı, which is more like a börek but still served with yogurt, and the Uzbek kind, which is pretty close to tortellini but can be even bigger.

Tortellini

Making pasta from scratch is quite simple once you get the basics down, so essentially you have two recipes in one here. I did say that the traditional filling is with meat but to balance the taste with the mantı I’m going for a mushroom filling here and deviating from the Emilia classic.

Ingredients

For the dough