Shish Barak
Last Updated on September 20, 2023 by Jacqueline Rafidi
Shishbarak to me is the quintessential comfort food. These homemade tortellini shaped dumplings are a labor of love, but the end result is such a masterpiece. Soft pillowy dough filled with a savory meat filling. These little dumplings are meant to be petite and bite sized, that’s the beauty of them. Each bite you take has a symphony of flavors and textures from the chew of the dumpling to the crunch of the slivered almonds or pine nuts on top. My family makes these a bit different than many others that I’ve seen: we don’t toast the shishbarak (although you’re more than welcome to, we just never did so that they stayed soft), we don’t use corn starch in our soup – instead, we use a laban immo style soup with lamb broth, usually what was left over in our freezer from making laban immo, and we also don’t eat it with rice. This version of shishbarak screams “home” to me, and there is nothing quite like the luxury of having ready made shishbarak in the freezer – I walk you through how to freeze them in the directions. I hope you give these a try and tag me on Instagram or facebook when you do @thebitewithjackie
Ingredients:
For the dough:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup warm water
For the filling:
¾ – 1 lb of lean ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 clove garlic
1 small onion, diced very fine
1 tablespoon parlsey, chopped very fine
For the lamb broth:
(This quantity makes enough broth to freeze for later or to make laban immo or mansaf with)
2 ½ – 3 lb lamb shoulder, bone in, excess fat trimmed, cut into about 3 inch pieces
1 small onion, quartered
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon allspice
12-14 cups water
For the soup:
1 – 32oz tub of plain yogurt (NOT Greek yogurt!! And Not flavored!)
6 cups of lamb broth
1 egg
Salt to taste
10 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons samneh (ghee) or unsalted butter
1/3 cup dried mint
Slivered almonds or pine nuts
Directions:
In a large soup pot, add all the lamb, onion, bay leaves and allspice. Cover them with the 12-14 cups of water, bring it to a boil and begin scraping out all the foam that rises to the top of the pot, so you are left with a clean broth. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook for 1 hour. Remove the meat onto a plate and strain out the onion and bay leaf reserving the broth. We will be using about 6 cups of broth for the soup, the rest of the broth can be frozen for future meals.
Meanwhile, make the dough by combining all ingredients in a bowl and kneading by hand or using a stand mixer. Mix for about 4-5 minutes or until the dough comes together in a ball. Drizzle an extra teaspoon of olive oil on the dough, cover it and set it aside for about 30 minutes.
Start on the filling. In a medium nonstick pan, add the oil and heat on medium. Add in the ground beef and begin breaking it up as finely as possible. Remove any excess fat/liquid developed on the bottom of the pan and reserve it in a small bowl on the side. Add in the onions, spices, garlic and parsley and cook until onions are translucent. If your filling becomes too dry, add in any remaining fat 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Flour a clean working surface and bring out the dough. Cut the dough into 4 even pieces so that its easier to work with. Take one of the four pieces aside and cover the rest. Roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick. Use a shot glass, espresso cup, or anything of this general size to cut little circles in the dough as far to the edge as possible by pressing the rim side down onto the dough, pressing firmly and twisting until the dough is cut into the circle shape. Continue cutting circles throughout the dough as close together as possible to use as much of the dough as you can. Collect all the excess dough, form it into a ball and put away with the remaining 3 pieces of dough for later use.
Take one small circle piece of dough and slightly flatten it with two fingers. Fill it with about ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of meat filling then close the dough to look like a taco/half circle and seal it well around the edges. Bring both ends of the half circle together, press firmly to seal, and lift up the bottom portion of dough to give it a flat bottom. Continue doing this with the rest of the circle pieces. Use the first 3 pieces of dough next, then use the balls of excess dough so they have ample time to rest before rolling out. Then let all the dumplings sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour while you make the soup.
*If freezing the shishbarak, flash freeze it at this point for 30 minutes in a single layer before transferring them to a plastic bag and back into the freezer for later use. When you want to cook them, make the broth and yogurt soup as directed and place the frozen shishbarak in for about 10 minutes*
In a large soup pot (it can be the same one you made the broth in), add the full tub of yogurt, the egg and a bit of salt. Stir very well with a wooden spoon before adding it to the heat so that the yogurt becomes smooth and the egg is well incorporated. Place the pot on the stove on medium heat constantly stirring in ONE direction. Once you start to see steam, the yogurt loosens slightly and some bubbles form, you can begin add the lamb broth. The consistency is a pretty thin broth, but it does thicken as it cools. Stir the yogurt and the broth until it comes to a boil, then add all the shishbarak to the pot very gently so they don’t break. Stir them gently and let them cook about 7-10 minutes or until they start to float to the surface.
In a small saucepan, add the samneh or butter and all the garlic, fry until golden brown then pour all the samneh and garlic directly into the laban immo pot straight from the pan. Take a ladleful of the soup and pour it into the saucepan to collect any bits of garlic and flavor that may be left in the pan, then add that directly into the pot. Top the pot off with some dried mint by crushing it between your hands and letting the crumbles fall into the pot.
Take another tablespoon of samneh and toast some slivered almonds or pine nuts until golden brown. Remove from heat and place into a heat proof dish once desired color is reached. To serve, Place the shishbarak and soup in a bowl and top with the toasted almonds or pine nuts. Enjoy & Sahtein!
Shishbarak! – Meat dumplings in a yogurt broth
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 cup warm water
For the filling:
- ¾ – 1 lb of lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 small onion diced very fine
- 1 tablespoon parlsey chopped very fine
For the lamb broth:
- This quantity makes enough broth to freeze for later or to make laban immo or mansaf with
- 2 lb lamb shoulder bone in, excess fat trimmed, cut into about 3 inch pieces
- 1 small onion quartered
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 10 cups water
For the soup:
- 1 – 32oz tub of plain yogurt NOT Greek yogurt!! And Not flavored!
- 6 cups of lamb broth
- 1 egg
- Salt to taste
- 10 cloves garlic finely minced
- 2 tablespoons samneh ghee or unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup dried mint
- Slivered almonds or pine nuts
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, add all the lamb, onion, bay leaves and allspice. Cover them with the 12-14 cups of water, bring it to a boil and begin scraping out all the foam that rises to the top of the pot, so you are left with a clean broth. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook for 1 hour. Remove the meat onto a plate and strain out the onion and bay leaf reserving the broth. We will be using about 6 cups of broth for the soup, the rest of the broth can be frozen for future meals.
- Meanwhile, make the dough by combining all ingredients in a bowl and kneading by hand or using a stand mixer. Mix for about 4-5 minutes or until the dough comes together in a ball. Drizzle an extra teaspoon of olive oil on the dough, cover it and set it aside for about 30 minutes.
- Start on the filling. In a medium nonstick pan, add the oil and heat on medium. Add in the ground beef and begin breaking it up as finely as possible. Remove any excess fat/liquid developed on the bottom of the pan and reserve it in a small bowl on the side. Add in the onions, spices, garlic and parsley and cook until onions are translucent. If your filling becomes too dry, add in any remaining fat 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Flour a clean working surface and bring out the dough. Cut the dough into 4 even pieces so that its easier to work with. Take one of the four pieces aside and cover the rest. Roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick. Use a shot glass, espresso cup, or anything of this general size to cut little circles in the dough as far to the edge as possible by pressing the rim side down onto the dough, pressing firmly and twisting until the dough is cut into the circle shape. Continue cutting circles throughout the dough as close together as possible to use as much of the dough as you can. Collect all the excess dough, form it into a ball and put away with the remaining 3 pieces of dough for later use.
- Take one small circle piece of dough and slightly flatten it with two fingers. Fill it with about ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of meat filling then close the dough to look like a taco/half circle and seal it well around the edges. Bring both ends of the half circle together, press firmly to seal, and lift up the bottom portion of dough to give it a flat bottom. Continue doing this with the rest of the circle pieces. Use the first 3 pieces of dough next, then use the balls of excess dough so they have ample time to rest before rolling out. Then let all the dumplings sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour while you make the soup.
- *If freezing the shishbarak, flash freeze it at this point for 30 minutes in a single layer before transferring them to a plastic bag and back into the freezer for later use. When you want to cook them, make the broth and yogurt soup as directed and place the frozen shishbarak in for about 10 minutes*
- In a large soup pot (it can be the same one you made the broth in), add the full tub of yogurt, the egg and a bit of salt. Stir very well with a wooden spoon before adding it to the heat so that the yogurt becomes smooth and the egg is well incorporated. Place the pot on the stove on medium heat constantly stirring in ONE direction. Once you start to see steam, the yogurt loosens slightly and some bubbles form, you can begin add the lamb broth. The consistency is a pretty thin broth, but it does thicken as it cools. Stir the yogurt and the broth until it comes to a boil, then add all the shishbarak to the pot very gently so they don’t break. Stir them gently and let them cook about 7-10 minutes or until they start to float to the surface.
- In a small saucepan, add the samneh or butter and all the garlic, fry until golden brown then pour all the samneh and garlic directly into the laban immo pot straight from the pan. Take a ladleful of the soup and pour it into the saucepan to collect any bits of garlic and flavor that may be left in the pan, then add that directly into the pot. Top the pot off with some dried mint by crushing it between your hands and letting the crumbles fall into the pot.
- Take another tablespoon of samneh and toast some slivered almonds or pine nuts until golden brown. Remove from heat and place into a heat proof dish once desired color is reached. To serve, Place the shishbarak and soup in a bowl and top with the toasted almonds or pine nuts. Enjoy & Sahtein!
