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Shish Barak
Serves 4 Prep 1 hr 30 min Cook 30 min Total 2 hr Type Meal Origin Syria

Shish Barak

Syria's lamb dumplings in hot yogurt: small ravioli-sized lamb parcels bathed in a stabilised garlic-mint yogurt sauce, finished with mint butter.

Serves 4 Prep 1 hour (plus 30 minutes resting) Cook 30 minutes Units Rate

Overview

The lamb filling fries with onion, allspice and a touch of cinnamon; the dough rolls thin, stamps into 4 cm rounds; each gets a small ball of filling, folds in half, then the two corners are pinched together into a tortellini shape. The dumplings bake at 200°C for 15 minutes to brown the tops. Whisked yogurt stabilises with cornflour and egg white, simmers gently with crushed garlic. The dumplings drop in for the last 5 minutes. Final flourish: sizzled garlic-mint butter.

Ingredients

Dough

  • 350 g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 180 ml warm water

Filling

  • 300 g lamb mince
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion (medium, very finely chopped)
  • 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts (toasted)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Yogurt sauce

  • 800 g full-fat natural yogurt (Greek or strained)
  • 1 egg white (large)
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour
  • 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 200 ml warm water (more if needed)

Garlic-mint butter

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (or samna)
  • 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 1 tablespoon dried mint
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped)

Method

Stage 1 - Dough

  1. Whisk flour and salt; drizzle in olive oil and warm water; mix to a soft dough.
  2. Knead 6 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover; rest 30 minutes.

Stage 2 - Filling

  1. Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat.
  2. Brown the lamb hard, breaking up clumps. Pour off excess fat.
  3. Add the onion; cook 5 minutes.
  4. Stir in garlic, allspice, cinnamon and pepper; cook 1 minute.
  5. Splash in 80 ml water; simmer 4 minutes until dry.
  6. Off the heat, stir in pine nuts, parsley and salt. Cool completely.

Stage 3 - Shape

  1. Roll the dough to 2 mm thick on a lightly floured surface.
  2. Stamp out 4 cm rounds with a small cutter (or glass).
  3. Place a small ball of filling (about ½ teaspoon) in the centre of each.
  4. Fold in half to a half-moon; press the curved edge to seal. Bring the two pointed corners together and pinch firmly (tortellini fold).
  5. Arrange on a lined tray.

Stage 4 - Pre-bake

  1. Heat oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
  2. Brush the shaped dumplings lightly with olive oil.
  3. Bake 12-15 minutes until lightly gold.

Stage 5 - Yogurt sauce

  1. In a wide heavy pan, whisk the yogurt, egg white, cornflour, garlic and salt with the warm water until smooth.
  2. Place on medium-low heat. Stir constantly in one direction with a wooden spoon as it heats - never let it boil hard, and never stop stirring (this prevents splitting).
  3. After 8-10 minutes the sauce thickens slightly and bubbles gently at the edges.

Stage 6 - Combine

  1. Slip the pre-baked dumplings into the warm yogurt; simmer gently 5 minutes.

Stage 7 - Garlic-mint butter

  1. In a small pan, melt the butter; add garlic; sizzle 30 seconds until fragrant but not coloured.
  2. Off the heat, stir in dried mint and parsley.

Stage 8 - Serve

  1. Tip the shish barak into a wide warm bowl.
  2. Drizzle with the garlic-mint butter.
  3. Eat with a spoon; warm pita on the side.

Notes

  • Stabilise the yogurt: Egg white + cornflour + constant-direction stirring + no hard boil keeps it from splitting. Don't skip any.
  • Pre-bake the dumplings: Boiling them straight in yogurt would burst the seals. Baking firms them first.
  • Damascene roots: Aleppo cooks make a similar version with a tomato-based broth instead of yogurt; this is the Damascus / Beirut style.

Storage

  • Best fresh. Refrigerate 2 days; reheat very gently on low heat, never boiling.
  • Freeze shaped uncooked dumplings 2 months. Bake from frozen; then proceed.

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