Shish Barak (Meat Dumplings in Yogurt Sauce)

Bowl of shish barak garnished with pine nuts and parsley.

5 from 3 votes

Shish Barak (Meat Dumplings in Yogurt Sauce)

A traditional Levantine recipe, Shish Barak is a type of dumpling that looks very similar to tortellini. It's filled with a minced meat filling, beef in this case, cooked in a yogurt sauce, and topped with garlicky adha. This is the ultimate comfort food and well worth the time needed to prepare it.

Prep Time45

Cook Time25

Total Time1 10

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Levantine, Middle Eastern

Servings: people

Author: Luay Ghafari

Cost: $10

Ingredients

Meat Filling

1 tbsp Olive oil
½ White onion - Finely Chopped
2 Garlic cloves - peeled and finely minced
½ lbs Ground beef - Lean or extra lean
2 tbsp Pine nuts
1 tsp Baharat (7-Spice) - Sub equal parts of cumin, coriander and cinnamon
1 tsp Paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
¼ cup Parsley - Finely chopped

Dumpling Dough

3 cups All purpose flour
3 tbsp Vegetable oil
¾ cup Water - Use more or less to get a smooth pliable dough
½ tsp Salt

Yogurt Sauce

4 cups Plain yogurt - 2% plain
1 Egg yolk
1 tbsp Corn starch
1 tsp Salt

Garnish (Adha)

3 tbsp Olive oil
3-5 Garlic cloves - Finely minced
2 tbsp Pine nuts
¼ cup Fresh parsley - Finely chopped
1 tbsp Aleppo pepper flake - Optional

Instructions

Filling. In a frying pan set on medium-high heat, add the olive oil, chopped onion and minced garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the ground beef and cook for 4-6 minutes. Add the pine nuts, 7-spice, paprika, 1/2 tsp of salt and fresh cracked pepper. Continue stirring until fragrant and any remaining liquid is evaporated and the beef is cooked. Remove from the heat and add the chopped parsley and stir to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Set aside to cool.
Mix the Dough. In a bowl, combine the flour, vegetable oil, water and salt. Mix using a fork or your hands until the dough comes together. It will be shaggy.
Knead the Dough. Transfer to a floured counter and knead for 4-6 minutes until you have a smooth and pliable dough. Cover the dough ball with a towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Roll the Dough. Roll the dough ball into a thin sheet on your work surface using a rolling pin, until you reach a thickness of about 1/8". Using a glass, cup, or cookie cutter, cut out circles that are about 3" in diameter. Re-roll any scraps and continue cutting out as many circles as you can.
Add Filling. Add 1 teaspoon of the meat filling to the middle of the dough circle.
Fold and seal: Fold over and seal the edges with your fingers so you have a parcel (like a mini empanada or half moon).
Pinch together: Take each end of the parcel and pinch them together to form a shape similar to a tortellino. Go over the edges again with your fingers to make sure the dumplings are well sealed.
Broil the dumplings. This step is optional but recommended as it adds another layer of flavor. On a baking tray lined with parchment paper, add the dumplings in a single layer. Spray them with cooking oil or brush them with olive oil. Broil them in the oven for 7-10 minutes, until lightly brown. Careful, don’t burn them. At this point, you can continue with the recipe or cool and freeze the dumplings to enjoy another day.
Yogurt Sauce. In a blender, add the yogurt, egg yolk, cornstarch and salt. Blend until smooth. Transfer the yogurt sauce to a medium pot and warm on medium-low heat. Make sure to keep stirring and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer. This should take 5-8 minutes and the sauce should thicken slightly. If the sauce is too thick for your liking, you can dilute it slightly with some water. Don't be tempted to turn up the heat, it may cause the sauce to split.
Combine. Add the dumplings to the hot yogurt sauce and cook for 5-8 minutes. Since the dumpling filling is already cooked, you just want to make sure the dough is cooked at this point. The dumplings are ready when the wrapper is soft and the center is warmed through.
Garlic topping (adha). In a small frying pan, add 3 tbsp olive oil and chopped garlic. Set the pan on medium-high heat and fry until the garlic just starts to brown, 2-3 minutes. Add the pine nuts and continue to fry for another 1 minute. As soon as the pine nuts begin to brown, turn off the heat. Add the chili flakes, if using. Carefully add the chopped parsley (it will splatter), stir everything together and set the frying pan aside.
Garnish and serve. You can serve the shish barak in a large serving bowl or divide it into smaller bowls. Garnish with the garlic topping.

Notes

See the blog post above for step-by-step recipe instructions and photos. I highly recommend you do this before starting to understand all the steps.

A few ingredient notes:

Beef: substitute an equal amount of ground lamb for the beef if preferred, or use a mix of the two. For a vegetarian option, a vegan ground meat alternative can be used.
7-spice (baharat): if you can't get or make it, substitute equal parts cumin, cinnamon, and ground coriander.
Yogurt: lower fat 2% plain or classic yogurt is ideal for this recipe. Thicker yogurt like Greek yogurt can be used, but should be thinned with water. Make sure it's plain, unsweetened yogurt.
Parsley: substitute an equal amount of cilantro for parsley. Cilantro is considered traditional by some, but I prefer parsley.
Dumpling dough: if you want to make this recipe a little easier, you can sub wonton or gyoza wrappers in a pinch rather than making your own homemade dough.

Some potential issues:

The yogurt sauce may split. Be careful and never use high heat to warm the sauce. Low to medium heat and continuously stir to avoid splitting.
The dumplings aren't sealing. You can use a small bit of water to help you seal the dumplings.

Nutrition