Manti

Tiny parcels of dough, each pinched around a pea-sized knot of spiced minced lamb, boiled and served under garlic yoghurt with hot butter stained red with pepper and a dusting of sumac and dried mint: mantı is the Turkish dumpling, and Kayseri is the city that made it a test of patience, with the old boast that forty should fit on one spoon. The dumpling family runs along the Silk Road from Chinese mantou and Central Asian manty, which are large and steamed, to the Armenian manti baked in broth, and the Turkish version is the smallest and the only one dressed with yoghurt. It is home cooking first, rolled and folded by several pairs of hands at the kitchen table, and in Kayseri it is served at weddings and to visitors as a point of pride; the city's mantı houses sell little else.