Low Carb Manti Turkish Meat Dumplings in Tomato Butter Sauce

Low Carb Manti with Yogurt Sauce and Tomato Butter Sauce

I found this recipe for Turkish Manti on the Food & Wine site and decided to try converting it to a low carb meal.  It worked!

We found it so delicious even my son, who is not on low carb diet, found this keto converted meal delectable.

This savory meat dish has just the right balance of acid and fat from the tomato and yogurt.  I used ground beef for the meat filling (and meatballs) but I'm sure ground lamb or ground pork would be tasty as well.

It is a multi step recipe - but quite doable - and well worth the effort!

Admittedly this is a stock photo- we ate ours before taking pics

Make the dough first, then the meat filling and the two sauces.

Dough 

1 cup plus almond flour, plus more for dusting

2 tbsp coconut flour 

1 egg 
5 tblsp water or as much as needed to make dough form into a ball

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt 

Combine all the dough ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.  It will form a moist dough.  Form it into a ball with your hands.  Traditional recipes with regular flour have you kneading it on a floured board- but I found this was unnecessary with the almond flour.  Let the ball of dough rest in the bowl where you prepare the meat filling.

Meat Mixture

1/2 pound ground beef
1 small onion, grated
3 tblsp minced parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper


Combine all ingredients for the meat mixture in a bowl and mix well.  Mixture will be stiff- best to finish the mixing process with your hands.

Yogurt Sauce

1 c. Greek yogurt 

(keep in mind that any yogurt can be made into "greek style" by simply straining it and letting some of the water drain out.) note: I used Bulgarian yogurt because it is lower carbs- plus I just really like it.

1-2 cloves of finely grated garlic (depending on your taste for garlic choose 1 or 2)

Kosher salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Refrigerate until ready to plate.

Tomato Butter Sauce

4 tblsp unsalted butter
2 tblsp tomato sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
Dried mint and Aleppo pepper, for garnish *note:

*note:  I did not have dried mint and Aleppo pepper on hand. I substituted tarragon and ancho chili powder - putting just a light dusting across each bowl as I served it.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir in tomato sauce 
and paprika and keep warm.

Preparing the dumpling dough and meat filling:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

On a lightly floured work surface, pat out the dough to roughly1/16 inch thick. (You will probably not get this soft low carb dough to go that thin - but do the best you can.) Cut the dough into 2-inch squares. 

Spoon 
1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the center of each square. To form the manti, fold the dough over the filling to form a triangle; press the edges together to seal. Transfer the manti to a slightly greased baking sheet.

Bake the manti dumplings on baking sheet in 350 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes.  Yes, the meat cooks inside the dumplings!

note:  Traditional recipes boil the manti - but I found that my almond flour dough disintegrated in the boiling water.  So I worked out a wonderful compromise.  I baked the manti then made the remaining meat mixture -because I had extra- into small meatballs (1 scant tblsp each) and boiled them in salted boiling water.  I served these meatballs alongside the manti - and they were terrific.  

Boil meatballs in salted water as above- they will rise to the top of the boiling water when done - about 5-8 minutes depending on size.

Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon and serve in a shallow bowl with the baked manti, spoon on the yogurt sauce and swirl in the warm tomato butter sauce and garnish with a sprinkle of tarragon and chili powder or dried mint and Aleppo pepper if you have access to it.

 

Low carb Keto Chicken Tacos

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos with Kale Slaw and Homemade Low Carb Tortillas

We started a ketogenic diet about 8 weeks ago.  And though we love the weight loss results, we have been challenged to cook no carb dinner entrees that seemed well rounded and left us feeling like we had more than just meat.

Then we put together these slow-cooker chicken Low carb tacos with a kale slaw.  And they were dynamite!

Even rivaled the full-on carb tacos at Lloyd Taco Factory in Buffalo that we love so much in our carb gobbling days.

So here's the 3 part recipe -

 

(don't be intimidated - slow cooker does the work for you and then it's just last minute prep.)

        slow cooker chicken

        kale slaw

        homemade no carb tortillas

 

Slow Cooker Chicken (adapted from West African Chicken Stew in Ketoclarity)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 medium onion diced

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 bay leaf

1 can crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup water or more as needed

1/4 cup of almond butter (no sugar added)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Minced parsley (sprinkle)

optional butter - if desired for added fat

1.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and brown over medium high heat in the coconut oil.  (This can be done on stove top or in your slow cooker on high heat.)  Brown the chicken on both sides - about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a platter.

2.  In same pot (your slow cooker), cook onion and ginger until soft - about 5-7 minutes.  Then add garlic, cayenne, bay leaf and cinnamon and cook for about a minute to enhance the spice flavors.  Add tomatoes and water- stirring.  Place chicken into this sauce (which is in your slow cooker) and set your slow cooker on low-medium - which depending on your style of slow cooker is usually in the 4-6 hr range.  Note: you may increase your water as this cooks to make sure you have plenty of sauce developing.

Kale Slaw

Fresh kale

Cider vinegar

Drizzle of olive oil or coconut oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Squeeze of a 1/2 lemon

Sprinkle of red pepper flakes to desired heat

1.  Wash, devein kale and pat dry. (I make extra of this easy slaw - as it basically goes with everything.)  Roughly chop or julienne the kale into ribbons.

2.  Toss kale with the vinegar, oil, lemon juice.  Season to taste with the salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

No Carb Tortilla Wrap

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of almond milk or non dairy milk of choice

1/4 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup Coconut flour

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp dried egg whites or protein powder

4-6 egg whites (depending on size of eggs and desired consistency of the batter

water as needed to achieve crepe like consistency

Combine milk and lemon juice and set aside.
Sift together dry ingredients.  Add milk mixture and egg whites and whisk well.  Allow to site for 5-10 minutes to thicken.  Adjust thickness of batter with water.

Preheat a crepe pan or 8 inch skillet over medium heat.  Coat pan with non stick cooking spray or a smear of coconut oil.  Then cook 1/4 cup of batter in crepe pan as you would a crepe - for about 1 minute until set - loosen edges gently with a spatula and flip over.  Cook for 1 minute.  Remove to a warm plate and repeat with remaining batter.
(You can adjust the size of your crepe/wraps as you desire.)  We made small ones in the photo.

Assembly:

Put your individual wraps together by spooning in your shredded slow cooker chicken, kale slaw into your no carb tortilla wrap and spooning on some of the juices from the chicken on top.

Garnish with some freshly chopped cilantro or parsley and fresh lime wedges.

Low Carb Blueberry Pancake Topping

Blueberry Lemon Walnut Topping for Low Carb Pancakes

So on our low carb/no carb ketogenic diet we love our butter but miss the syrup for our pancakes.

Pancakes you said!!! On a low carb diet!?  YES!
Found this great recipe for low carb pancakes made with coconut flour that cooks up really well.

The All Day I Dream about Food blog is my new go to source for terrific low carb recipes.

Then I came up with this fast and easy topping that will make you forget about the syrup you are missing!

Blueberry Lemon Walnut Topping

Ingredients:

1/2 cup blueberries

Fresh lemon (about 1/2 small lemon)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Sprinkle of liquid artificial sweetener of your choice (I use sucralose or generic Splenda or Swerve) 

Combine all ingredients in small bowl, mix gently to combine and let stand a few minutes while you assemble and butter your low carb pancakes.
Serves 2

Enjoy!  

Of course, this could be easily repurposed (love to repurpose) in a non low carb diet by simply substituting a scant sprinkle of sugar or agave syrup instead of the Splenda.