Meat, Maghreb and Middle East
Shish barak in yogurt sauce
Shish barak are small Lebanese dumplings filled with ground beef, poached then served warm in a sauce of yogurt, garlic, and cilantro. This recipe serves 4, takes 1h30, rates medium difficulty, and costs about €2.60 per person. The key to success is a yogurt sauce thickened with cornstarch and stirred constantly so it never curdles.
Tonight, shish barak, these little Lebanese dumplings stuffed with meat and simmered in a warm sauce of yogurt, garlic, and cilantro.
- Total time
- 1 h 30
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Cost per person
- €2.60
- Calories per person
- 530 kcalcalculated by Kiloach, your weight coach
- Season
- Fall, Winter, Spring
- The kids
- They generally like it
Shish barak bring together two textures you wouldn't expect in one dish, the firm thin dumpling wrapper and the warm creaminess of the yogurt sauce. The beef filling, with pine nuts and a touch of cinnamon, carries a gentle sweet and savory note, while raw garlic and fresh cilantro wake everything up right before serving.
This is a dish for a day when you have some time on your hands, a Sunday or an evening when the whole family can help fold the dumplings together. Kids tend to love the mild sauce and the little pasta hats, and Mon Chou walks you through each step so the sauce never breaks.
The ingredients
Pantry
- Flouroften in the pantry 400 g
- Pine nuts 30 g
- Cornstarchoften in the pantry 1 tbsp
- Cinnamonoften in the pantry 1 pinch
- Oiloften in the pantry 2 tbsp
- Saltoften in the pantry 1 pinch
- Pepperoften in the pantry 1 pinch
Butcher
- Ground beef 400 g
Fruits and vegetables
- Onion 2
- Garlic 4 cloves
- Fresh cilantro 1 sprigs
Dairy
- Plain Greek yogurt 700 g
- Egg 1
Allergens Gluten, Lactose, Eggs, Tree nuts
The step by step recipe
-
Knead the flour with the egg, salt, and about 20 cl of water, then let it rest under a towel. 20 min
Dough that has rested rolls out much thinner.
-
Cook the meat with the chopped onion, pine nuts, cinnamon, salt, and pepper, then let it cool. 10 min
A drier filling folds more easily.
-
Roll out the dough, cut out 5 cm rounds, fill each with a little meat mixture, and pinch them closed into small hat shapes.
Seal the edges with a bit of water, the dumplings won't open during cooking.
-
Whisk the yogurt with the cornstarch and heat gently while stirring, with the crushed garlic and salt. 12 min
No rolling boil, the yogurt would curdle.
-
Poach the dumplings in boiling water, then drop them into the warm yogurt sauce and sprinkle with cilantro. 8 min
They're ready when they float to the surface.
Our tips to get it right
- Shape all the dumplings before you start the sauce, they need to be ready to go straight into the water.
- Keep one wooden spoon just for the yogurt sauce and never change stirring direction partway through.
- If the sauce thickens too fast, lower the heat instead of adding water, which would make it less velvety.
The variations
- Swap the ground beef for ground lamb for a stronger flavor, common in some Lebanese versions.
- For a vegetarian version, fill the dumplings with spinach, onions, and chopped walnuts instead of meat.
- For a quicker, kid friendly version, make fewer and larger dumplings, they cook faster and are easy to eat with a spoon.
What to serve it with
- Lebanese flatbread for scooping up sauce
- A cucumber and fresh mint salad
- A glass of cold lemon water
Storage
Shish barak keep for 2 days in the refrigerator in a closed container, sauce and dumplings together. They don't freeze well once in the sauce, since yogurt curdles after thawing, but raw dumplings freeze very well before cooking. Reheat over very low heat while stirring, without letting it boil.
Questions about this dish
Can you make the dumplings ahead of time?
Yes, you can shape the dumplings the day before and keep them covered in the fridge on a floured tray. Cook them and drop them into the sauce right before serving.
How do you keep the yogurt sauce from curdling?
Cornstarch stabilizes the yogurt during cooking, which keeps the sauce from separating. You also need to heat it gently and never let it boil hard.
Can you freeze shish barak?
Raw dumplings freeze very well, spread out on a tray then gathered into a bag once firm. Once cooked in the yogurt sauce, though, they don't hold up to freezing.
Can you swap the pine nuts in the filling?
Yes, roughly chopped walnuts or almonds work well in place of pine nuts. The goal is to keep that little bit of crunch in the meat filling.
How long does it take to make a plate of shish barak in yogurt sauce?
Count 1 h 30 in total, prep and cooking included. The recipe is rated “medium”.
How many calories are in a plate of shish barak in yogurt sauce?
About 530 kcal per serving, for a recipe meant for 4 people. Calories are calculated by Kiloach, your weight coach, the app that partners with Mon Chou.
How much does a plate of shish barak in yogurt sauce cost?
About €2.60 per serving, or €10.40 for 4 people, based on average supermarket prices.
What allergens does this recipe contain?
This recipe contains gluten, lactose, eggs, tree nuts. Always check the labels of the products you buy.
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