Recipe: Yufka Mantısı
Delicate yufka (phyllo) sheets filled with a savory blend of spiced beef and lamb, soaked in a rich red pepper stock.
MARCH 29, 2025 UPDATE:
This week brought its fair share of challenges, with difficult decisions on both personal and professional fronts, making it harder to write something new. So, I’m publishing a recipe I originally shared when my newsletter had fewer subscribers. We made it for friends who joined us for dinner this week and it was a great reminder of just how good it is. More people need to try this one!
YUFKA MANTISI RECIPE
Recipe Credit to Meliz Berg, with adjustments made by me.
Read through the recipe in its entirety, prepare your mise en place and ensure the yufka is thawed if needed. This dish has three components and while it requires a bit of extra prep and a few more dishes, it’s worth it!
I want to give full credit to Meliz Berg, who originally wrote this recipe with chicken. I’ve adapted it by using a beef and lamb mix, but if you prefer a meat-free option, eggplant, squash or potato would make excellent substitutes for the filling.
I also recommend watching my recipe video (above) to help visualize the assembly process. In the video, you’ll notice I originally included a chili butter garnish, but I’ve since removed it from the recipe. I’ve found that three well-balanced components provide all the flavor this dish needs.
Filling:
1 large yellow or white onion
2 large cloves of garlic
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 pound of mixed ground beef (0.5 lb) and ground lamb (0.5 lb)
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp pul biber
¾ tsp ground black pepper
¾ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp thick-strained yogurt
1 tbsp sweet Turkish red pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası)
8 large sheets of large rectangular yufka (Like this one)
Stock:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp sweet Turkish red pepper paste
0.5 tbsp Better than Bouillon chicken or beef stock
3/4 cup water
Garlic Yogurt:
3/4 cup thick strained yogurt
1 tsp finely grated garlic
Pinch of salt to taste
Method:
Pull the yufka from the freezer to thaw if it is frozen.
In a food processor, blend the onions, garlic and parsley and drain in a sieve so that any excess water is removed.
Add the blended onion, garlic and parsley in a large bowl with the ground meat mixture. Add in all the spices and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 F
Take one sheet of yufka and place it on your working space. Cover the rest with a damp tea towel to prevent the yukfa sheets from drying out.
Place 1/8 of the meat mixture along the long edge of a yufka sheet. Roll it tightly to form a long, filled pastry log. Repeat this process with the remaining meat mixture and yufka sheets until you have eight filled pastry logs in total.
Line all the pastry rolls together horizontally. Cut bite-sized (of equal length) pieces, approximately 2.25 inches.
Lightly coat a medium-sized casserole dish with olive oil to prevent sticking. Place the cut pieces vertically in the dish.
Melt the 1 tbsp of butter and brush the tops of the pastry with it.
Place the dish on the bottom rack of the oven for 30-35 mins until the tops of the pastry are lightly golden.
After baking the yufka mantısı for 30–35 minutes, carefully remove the dish from the oven. Pour the stock mixture (instructions below) over the dish, making sure to avoid soaking the crispy tops. Return it to the oven on the middle rack and bake for another 20 minutes, using the fan setting if available.
When the tops of the yufka mantısı have crisped up again but are now a nice juicy red color, take the dish out of the oven to let it cool.
Liberally drizzle the garlic yogurt (instructions included below) on top of the yufka mantısı and garnish with chopped parsley.
Method for the stock:
Place a saucepan on medium heat and add the oil and butter.
Once the butter has melted, stir in the red pepper paste, stock paste and water.
Turn up the heat so that the mixture starts to bubble vigorously, then turn it down to allow it to reduce and thicken.
Method for the Garlic Yogurt:
Mix the grated garlic and yogurt in a small bowl.
Add a pinch of salt to taste and pop in the fridge until it’s time to serve the yufka mantısı.