Manti

Method

1. Put 80 g of plain flour in a bowl with 0.25 tsp of salt, make a well and pour in 45 ml of lukewarm water. Bring it together with your fingers, then knead on an unfloured surface for 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and firm — noticeably stiffer than bread dough, so the wrappers can be rolled paper-thin without tearing. Cover with a damp cloth and rest 30 minutes at room temperature.
2. While the dough rests, make the filling. Chop 120 g of lamb shoulder and 15 g of lamb tail fat by hand with a heavy knife until coarsely minced, in pea-sized pieces — mincing machines make the filling pasty and dry. Dice 100 g of onion as finely as the meat.
3. Mix the meat, fat and onion with 0.5 tsp of ground cumin, 0.25 tsp of black pepper and 0.5 tsp of salt. Stir hard in one direction for a minute until the mixture is sticky and the onion starts to weep, then leave it while you roll the dough. Do not add water: the onion gives all the juice.