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Lebanese Style Dumplings
If you’re looking for an authentic Lebanese Shish Barak recipe, this one is it; and like many traditional Middle Eastern recipes, they can definitely be a labor of love. So I learned this one from my aunt and tested it a few times to try to find as many shortcuts as possible to make it quick, while keeping all the flavor and presentation there!
Shish barak is made with small dough pockets filled with spiced ground meat and simmered in a delicious yogurt-based sauce. Just liked stuffed grape leaves, these beef stuffed dumplings recipe is not really something I make often, but I save it for special occasions, Ramadan or dinner parties because it really is such a special delicious dish! Don’t be intimidated by the process…it’s just a little tedious but totally worth it!
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Shish Barak Ingredients
- Dough ingredients: I use all-purpose flour, salt, warm water and oil to make a quick homemade dough. You can also use wonton wrappers or store-bought pizza dough.
- Stuffing ingredients: Ground beef (or ground lamb), onions, garlic, parsley, 7 spice, salt, and pepper. The pine nuts are optional, but so good!
- Yogurt sauce ingredients: Plain yogurt, water, cornstarch, salt and dried mint.
How to Make Shish Barak
Shish Barak
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup warm water
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Beef Filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ pound ground beef
- ½ small onion minced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons 7 spice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley plus more for serving
- 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts plus more for serving
Yogurt Sauce
- 32 ounce greek yogurt
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons dried mint
Instructions
- Prepare the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment, mix the flour, water, olive oil, and salt until it forms a smooth, springy ball, 5 to 7 minutes. Cover and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Make the beef filling. Heat the olive oil in a medium size pan over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onions, and cook, breaking up the ground beef with the back of a spatula until it is minced and browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, season with 7 spice, salt and pepper, and cook until fragrant, 2 more minutes. Fold in the parsley and pine nuts. Set aside.
- Cut the dough. Lightly flour a flat surface and use a rolling pin roll the dough flat about ⅛-inch in thickness, about 16×16 inches wide. Use a small 2-inch cookie cutter or round object to cut the dough into discs. You can roll the remaining dough pieces and make more discs from it.
- Make the dumplings. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Add about 1 teaspoon of the beef filling into the piece of dough and fold over into a half moon shape. Pinch the two ends together to close into a tortellini shape. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Bake in the preheated oven until the dumplings are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
- Prepare the yogurt sauce. Whisk together the yogurt, water, cornstarch, salt, and dried mint in a large pot with no heat until there are no more clumps. Once the mixture is well combined, turn the heat to medium and stir frequently until the mixture starts to thicken, about 10 minutes. It will continue to thicken as it cooks with the dumplings.
- Assemble and serve. Add the baked dumplings into the yogurt sauce and cook until the dumplings start to float to the top, about 10 minutes. Ladle the dumplings with the sauce into bowls, garnish with pine nuts and mint.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
If you try this Shish Barak recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, please rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe.
Recipe Tips
- Toast the pine nuts before making the beef filling. You don’t need to toast the pine nuts, but they are more flavorful that way. I recommend toasting them on a dry skillet until golden brown before cooking the filling. That way, it’s fewer pans to wash.
- Roll the dough thinly. You want your dough to be at the most 1/8th inch thick, but you can go a little thinner than this. You can also stretch the dough rounds a bit with your hands when adding the filling and forming into little tortellini shapes.
- Skip the oven to save time. Instead of baking the small meat dumplings you can simmer them in salted water until they float. I prefer the baking method because I love the texture of the dough when it is baked before simmering in the yogurt sauce.
- Simmer until the float. Once you transfer the baked dumplings to the yogurt sauce you’ll want to allow it to simmer at low heat. You’ll know they’re ready once the start to pop up to the surface. The sauce will soak into the dumplings and soften them up as they cook for an irresistibly chewy, meat-filled pillow of goodness.
FAQs
Allow the shish barak to cool down to room temperature and transfer to an airtight container to store in the fridge for up to three to four days. To reheat, simmer in a pot on the stove over low heat until heated through. Avoid cooking on high heat as it may scorch the yogurt sauce and cause it to separate and burn. If this happens, it hard to fix as the burnt flavor will transfer through the sauce and make it very unpleasant.
While the yogurt sauce shouldn’t be frozen, the dumplings absolutely can be frozen before or after cooking. After filling and shaping them, place on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer. Allow them to freeze completely, up to 1-2 hours, before transferring to a ziptop bag and storing in the freezer for up to 2-3 months. Follow the same steps for freezing after baking, allow them to cool completely first.
Yes, you can prepare the dumplings and filling in advance and refrigerate or freeze them until ready to cook. You can also prepare the yogurt sauce ahead of time and refrigerate it separately for up to 3-4 days.
Hello! I want to make this for my father tomorrow for Ramadan he’s been craving it lol. Not sure if you’ll see this in time, but how many dumplings does the original recipe make? Debating if I should double it up for a family of 5
I would say it makes about 35.
Can I use Greek yogurt
Yes,I would just try using full fat Greek yogurt because it holds up better to heat without breaking.
Hello! does it matter what % the yogurt is?
Yes I do recommend full fat yogurt because it holds up better to heat without breaking. However you can still use low fat yogurt. Just keep an eye on the yogurt and keep the heat low to avoid it breaking and curdling.
Would it work with gluten free flour?
I’ve never made it with gluten-free flour, but I think as long as you use a gluten 1:1 flour substitute and you’re able to fold the dumplings then it should definitely work.
Not gonna lie, I was crying my eyes out while eating this. Sounds silly but I haven’t had my moms cooking since I left home and this was my favorite recipe, never thought I would be able to make it on my own but Yumna’s instructions were so easy to follow. Mine didn’t turn out as pretty (I’m so bad with dough) but tasted DELICIOUS!! The yogurt sauce over rice is just heavenly! Thank you so much for recreating this authentic recipes and making them accessible to us, I love sharing food I grew up eating with the people I love. And thank you for taking something intimidating and making it simple and SO GOOD!
Aw, thank you so much Naya, that really means a lot to me! It is hard being away from family and I feel honored to have helped bring that feeling back.
I’m really excited to try this! The picture caught my eye at first, but then I just read through it all and this sounds like it would be so good!
I’m thinking I’ll to do some with the beef filling and some with just veggies (the mushroom filled ones sounds yummy). I love that you shared how to freeze them, too. It looks like you could easily make a bunch of the dumplings, so being able to save some for another meal without going through the process again is a plus! Thanks for sharing all your tips! I love reading your posts 🙂
Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy!