Shish Barak – Lebanese Meat Dumplings in Yogurt Stew

Step 1

Finely chop then sauté the onions with a bit of olive oil until they start turning translucent

Step 2

Add the ground beef, 7-spices, salt, mix well and then sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the beef is cooked

Step 3

A couple of minutes before the meat is cooked, mix in the pine nuts and cook for a couple more minutes then let rest and cool down.

Step 4

Mix the yeast in half a cup of warm water with a bit of sugar. Let rest for a few minutes.

Step 5

Mix and knead the dough ingredients along with the yeast liquid in a bowl, cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Step 6

Place dough on a kitchen counter dusted with flour, and flatten with a dough roller into a large sheet the thickness of 2 coins (1/8th of an inch).

Step 7

Using a water bottle lid (or small cookie cutter), cut the dough into disks the size of a quarter (3/4th of an inch in diameter)

Step 8

Holding a dough disk flat with one hand, add 1/2 teaspoon of stuffing in the center.

Step 9

Fold and close dough sides over the stuffing into a half moon shape. Then pull edges around and flatten the circumference to make it all look like a “hat”.

Step 10

The idea here is to lock the stuffing properly and well inside of the dough. If you know of other methods or have some ravioli making tools, be creative.

Step 11

Line up all the dumplings on a flour dusted plate

Step 12

Pour 12 cups of water and 2 lb of labneh (strained yogurt) in a cooking pot, mix well until all Labneh is dissolved, then place on stove over medium-low heat and keep on stirring gently until it reaches a boil, at which time you turn the heat to low.

Step 13

Mix in 2 crushed cloves of garlic.

Step 14

Mix in the dried mint powder and dried cilantro leaves.

Step 15

Add 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of salt (to taste).

Step 16

Add juice from 1 freshly squeezed lemon. If you’re using goat yogurt you can skip this step.

Step 17

Gently add the Shish Barak dumplings, bring the stew to a boil again, and then let simmer for 15-20 minutes on low heat while gently but constantly stirring.

Step 18

Serve hot as a soup

Step 19

Repeat the above steps but using 10 cups of plain yogurt with 2 cups of water instead of using Labneh. Be mindful that if using yogurt you need to stir very well for proper assimilation.