Yufka Mantisi – Turkish Dumplings

Turkey is a gem of the Mediterranean world and offers a cuisine of diverse dishes and flavors. I love remaking Turkish dishes such as my Turkish Pide and this unique dish, Yufka Mantisi which translates as phyllo dough dumplings .

Turkish dumplings or Mantisi is traditionally made of tightly packed rolls of Turkish phyllo dough filled with chicken, baked with a tomato sauce and served with a special yogurt sauce. The filling and the sauces are not usually spiced up. Traditionally, cheese is not used and is optional but I feel it is a wonderful addition.

However, with my recipe the prep time will cut down with no compromise on the flavors and it is a healthier version as I have replaced phyllo dough with tortillas. I have also added a bit of spice by using Thai chili, paprika and chili garlic sauce and cheese. The best part of this dish is that with minimal effort, it can serve large groups of people with each person being able to pull out individual rolls for themselves. Either way, I guarantee that with only a few bites, you will fall in love with this Turkish dumplings recipe. 

The process will seem long but this dish actually comes together very quickly. For full ingredients and quantity detail, scroll to the recipe card below.

Steps by Step Instructions:

Get together your vegetables. Onions are a must because it acts as a tenderizer and prevents the chicken from drying out while baking. I have used onions, bell peppers, cabbage and included Thai chili too for some heat. Feel free to use other vegetables such as mushrooms. Just give them a rough chop because they will be going into the food processor anyways.

Pulse the vegetables in the food processor so you end up with fine chunks and not a paste. If you don’t have a food processor, you can do it manually with a knife.

Chop up the chicken breasts into 3-4 chunks (so it fits in the processor). In the same food processor (no need to clean it) add the chicken breasts. Again just give a few pulses to break down the chicken. Alternatively, you can use ground chicken instead of chicken breast, and in this case, there is no need to pulse in the food processor.

Add the following to the chicken- salt, black pepper powder, red chili flakes, cumin powder, paprika powder & olive oil and run the processor until it forms a paste.

If using ground chicken, add the spices and you can mix well until it develops a paste like texture.

Add the spiced chicken to the vegetables we prepared earlier.

Give it a good mix and there you have it! The filling is ready.

Next mix water and oil and we will be using it to brush the tortillas. This will maintain the softness of the tortillas and prevent them from drying out during baking.

Next, prep an oven safe dish. I have used a 9 inch springform cake pan. But you can use any oven safe dish, just make sure it has tall sides so that the rolls can stand upright. Line it with aluminum foil or parchment paper and lightly grease it.

To make the actual Yufka Mantisi, you use phyllo dough, stacking 3-4 sheets brushed with oil before adding the chicken filling and rolling it up. This results in crispy, flaky rolls after baking. But I have opted for a slightly healthier and easier version (since phyllo sheets can be trickly to handle too).

I have used large tortillas but you can use whatever size is available. Brush BOTH sides of the tortilla with the water-oil mixture, add the chicken filling on one end and then roll it up into a log.

Since I was using a large tortilla, I cut it into 4 parts. If using smaller tortillas you may need to just slice into 2 parts. You can add as much filling as you want just don’t overstuff them.

After completing all the rolls and using up the chicken filling, begin stacking them. Start from the outside and then move to the inside. You may struggle with the last few, and it’s okay if they fit tightly. That tight fit will keep the Mantisi standing when it is time to serve.

As you can see in the picture below, I have stacked all the dumplings and they are ready to be placed in the oven. But before placing them in the oven, liberally brush with the same water-oil combo.

While they are baking, we start with the sauce preparation.

The first sauce we will be preparing will be drizzled over the dumplings once they are baked. If you have some of the water-oil mixture remaining, use that. In a frying pan, I added that water-oil mixture, tomato paste, chili garlic sauce and cook for 30 seconds.

Add chicken broth and cook for 1 – 2 minutes more. The sauce should be runny not thick.

After the Mantisi are finished baking, remove them from the oven, drizzle the sauce, and sprinkle cheese (if you plan to add it). Then, return them to the oven to bake until the cheese melts.

While they are baking one final time, we will prepare the next sauce which is yogurt based. Again, here I have used the leftover water-oil mixture and added paprika, salt and mint leaves. You can use fresh or dry mint leaves. If using dried mint leaves, use half the quantity since they have a stronger flavor than the fresh ones. Sauté’ for few seconds only- we don’t want to burn the paprika or the mint because it will give a bitter taste.

Add it to the yogurt which we thinned out with water, stir and the sauce is ready. I like to add a few mint leaves on top for garnishing.

Traditionally, the yogurt sauce is drizzled over the Turkish dumplings just before serving. But I find that it makes the whole dish so soggy especially if you have leftovers. I like to serve it separately.

Once the Yufka Mantisi are out of the oven, I open up the springform pan. slide it out and peel away the aluminum foil or the parchment paper. If you are using any other dish, you can either leave the Mantisi in it or transfer to another serving dish. Everyone picks their Mantisi out and drizzles yogurt sauce over it or dips it in the yogurt sauce.

You can refrigerate any leftovers and warm them up the next day