Ashak
An Afghan leek dumpling genuinely distinct from the site's existing Mantu on several real points, not just superficially: ashak's filling is vegetarian, built on leeks, scallions, and cilantro rather than ground meat, the dumplings are boiled rather than steamed, and the meat appears only as a sauce spooned over the top, alongside garlic-yogurt and dried mint, essentially inverting where the meat sits compared to mantu's meat-filled, tomato-lentil-topped format.
Meat-optionalVegetarian-optional
⚠ Contains: Gluten, Dairy. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup water
- 3 cups leeks, finely chopped
- 1 cup scallions, finely chopped
- Cilantro, chopped
- 300g ground beef or lamb (omit for a vegetarian version)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup plain yogurt, mixed with garlic
- Dried mint, for garnish
Steps
- Make a firm dough from the flour and water, and roll thin. Cut into squares.
- Mix the leeks, scallions, and cilantro with salt for the filling.
- Fill each square with a spoonful of the leek mixture, fold, and seal into dumplings.
- Boil the dumplings until they float and are cooked through.
- For the meat version, cook the ground meat with onion and tomato into a sauce. For a vegetarian version, simmer the onion and tomato without meat. Serve the dumplings topped with the chosen sauce, garlic-yogurt, and dried mint.