Manti is one of the best-known Turkish dishes today. And the delicious dumplings are not to be denied! But in Turkey, manti recipes go far beyond the combination of garlic yoghurt and butter sauce. In the south in particular, the delicious dumplings are often used as a soup topping, and yes, this hearty dish would also pass for a soup in Turkey. So you can serve it alongside other main courses, side dishes and the like. But you can of course also enjoy the soup as a stew for dinner. Either way, our manti soup is pure comfort food for the heart and soul.
Yüksük soup: the roots of our manti soup
In Turkey, oriental, Mediterranean and Caucasian cuisine come together. However, the majority of Turkish recipes simply consist of hearty home cooking that fills you up. At this point, it should not be forgotten that many parts of Turkey are characterized by poverty. If only chickpeas, flour, bulgur and the like are affordable, then Turkish recipes such as manti soup are created. And let's leave aside the fact that the soup is vegetarian and cheap. It is also simply delicious.
While we call it manti soup, in Turkey it is also known as yüksük corbasi (yuksuk soup). It originally comes from the south of Turkey and is attributed to the Adana and Mersin regions. We found this recipe on a Turkish recipe page.
This is because international recipes and general food trends are less common on Turkish recipe sites. Instead, people from all over Turkey share their traditional recipes and often state the place of origin of the Turkish dish. This is where the most iconic dish from Istanbul, the original apple pie from the bakery next door, the perfect lahmacun from the lahmacun master from Gaziantep and the hearty soup from the farmer's wife from Eastern Anatolia come together. Recipe pictures of soups cooked in cauldrons over a fire are displayed next to chic mezzes served on fine china.
Back to our Turkish manti soup: vegetarian manti!
The classic Turkish mantis are prepared with minced meat, yes. But oven-baked and dried unfilled manti are often used as a soup garnish. These unfilled manti are of course vegetarian. You can usually find them in Turkish supermarkets in the pasta section or online here*. Alternatively, you can also use ready-made manti - which are not vegetarian, of course.
In Turkey, the small Turkish dumplings are usually made in advance or bought frozen. With mantis in stock, the small mantis are simply stored uncooked in portions in the freezer.
But here in Turkey, almost all butchers, spice stores and delicatessens have small frozen shelves with homemade manti, which you simply fill into a bag by the kilo and have weighed out.
But once you have bought or made the manti, you are only a few steps away from our manti soup! Afiyet Olsun!
Manti soup with chickpeas: Yuksuk Corbasi recipe
Ingredients
- 150 grams/5 oz of ready-made manti*
- 100 g/3,5 oz dry chickpeas (alternatively approx. 8 tbsp canned chickpeas)
- 1 full tbsp tomato paste*
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp dried mint*
- salt
Preparation
If you are using dry chickpeas, soak them in water overnight or for a few hours.
Step 1: Heat the oil and butter in a pot. Now fry the dried mint for about a minute over a medium heat.
Step 2: Add the tomato paste and mix it in with a wooden spoon. Deglaze everything with a liter of water, add salt and bring the soup to the boil.
Step 3: When the water is boiling, add the manti and chickpeas. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the chickpeas are cooked and the manti are soft. Serve the Turkish manti soup hot.
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