Shish barak
shishbarak · shushbarak
Small meat dumplings baked or boiled and finished in a warm yogurt sauce, often prepared for family gatherings.
About this dish
Small meat dumplings baked or boiled and finished in a warm yogurt sauce, often prepared for family gatherings. The recipe here chooses one named variation from that wider tradition; household fillings, shapes and serving styles may differ.
Recipe
Lebanese shish barak in yogurt
Dough
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 130 ml water
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
Filling
- 250 g ground beef
- 1 onion (100 g), minced
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp Lebanese seven-spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 30 g pine nuts
Yogurt sauce
- 800 g full-fat plain yogurt
- 300 ml water
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Finish
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp dried mint
- 1
Dough: 250 g all-purpose flour; 130 ml water; 1 tbsp oil; plus the remaining ingredients listed for this component. Knead dough ingredients and rest covered 30 minutes. Knead firm and smooth and cover the full rest.
- 2
Filling: 250 g ground beef; 1 onion (100 g), minced; 1 tbsp oil; plus the remaining ingredients listed for this component. Cook onion in filling oil, add beef, seven-spice and salt and cook thoroughly. Stir in pine nuts and cool. Cook beef in fine crumbs to 71°C/160°F, reduce loose liquid and cool promptly.
- 3
Roll thin and cut 5 cm circles. Enclose 1 tsp filling, seal crescents and join tips. Bake on a lined tray at 200°C/400°F 8-10 minutes until lightly golden. Roll about 1 mm thick, seal before joining tips and bake in a preheated oven only to light color.
- 4
Yogurt sauce: 800 g full-fat plain yogurt; 300 ml water; 1 tbsp cornstarch. Whisk yogurt, water and cornstarch cold in a pot. Heat slowly while stirring until just simmering. Add dumplings and simmer gently 10-15 minutes until skins are tender. Whisk cold to disperse starch, heat slowly while scraping base and avoid a hard boil; test tender wrappers.
- 5
Finish: 3 garlic cloves, minced; 2 tbsp chopped cilantro; 1 tbsp butter; plus the remaining ingredients listed for this component. Sizzle garlic and cilantro in butter briefly and add to the yogurt with dried mint. Cook garlic briefly without browning and stir gently into yogurt with mint.
Note
This follows the baked-before-simmering variation, not the yeasted first-source dough. Stabilize yogurt before adding dumplings and avoid a hard boil.