Shish Barak
Shish Barak is the Levantine comfort classic of tiny flour-and-water dumplings filled with spiced beef, poached until they float, then folded into a warm yogurt sauce that never boils. A garlic-and-cilantro ghee tempering and toasted pine nuts finish the bowl. This version stays close to the home method: a soft, unleavened dough rested so it rolls paper-thin, a fully cooked filling that keeps the seals tight, and a yogurt stabilized with cornstarch and egg so it stays glossy instead of curdling. Prep runs about an hour, with a thirty-minute dough rest; the stove needs forty minutes more.
- Prep
- 60 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 130 min
- Additional time
- 30 min
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
What you’ll need — tap to tick off as you go
- 300 g
- 1 tsp
- 150 ml
- 2 tbsp
- 400 g
- 1 tsp
- ½ tsp
- ½ tsp
- 1 kg
- 2 tbsp
- 4 cloves
- 20 g
- 2 tbsp
- 30 g
- 500 ml
Process
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Make the dough: in a large bowl, mix 300 g all-purpose flour with 1 tsp fine salt. Add 150 ml lukewarm water and 2 tbsp olive oil, then knead for about 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth, soft and no longer sticky. Cover and rest for 30 minutes; kneading develops the gluten, and the rest relaxes it so it rolls paper-thin without springing back.
Make the filling: in a skillet over medium heat, cook 400 g lean ground beef and 1 small finely chopped onion, breaking up the meat, until the beef is browned and the onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp seven spice, 0.5 tsp black pepper and 0.5 tsp salt. Set the pan aside and cool the filling completely; warm, wet filling steams inside the dumplings and weakens the seals.
Roll and fill: on a floured surface, roll the dough to about 2 mm and cut 4 cm rounds, keeping the rest covered. Set a small teaspoon of cooled filling in the center of each round, fold into a half-moon and pinch the edge firmly shut, pressing out the air. Bring the two corners together into a small hat and pinch to secure; thin walls cook tender, and a tight seal keeps the filling in.
Cook the dumplings: bring 500 ml beef broth to a gentle simmer in a wide pot. Lower the dumplings in, in batches so they are not crowded, and cook for 8–10 minutes, until they float and the dough is tender. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and keep the broth hot; you will use it to loosen the sauce.
Prepare the yogurt sauce: in a bowl, whisk 1 kg plain yogurt with 2 tbsp cornstarch and 1 beaten egg until the mixture is completely smooth, with no starch streaks. Pour it into a large heavy saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly in one direction, until the sauce thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Never let it boil; boiling splits yogurt into grains.
Add the dumplings: slide the poached dumplings gently into the warm sauce and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes to heat them through, nudging the pot rather than stirring hard. If the sauce tightens past a light, pourable porridge, loosen it with a splash of the reserved broth.
Make the garlic-cilantro topping: in a small pan, melt 2 tbsp ghee over medium heat, add 4 minced garlic cloves and 20 g chopped cilantro, and cook for 1–2 minutes, until fragrant and the garlic is pale gold. Pour the tempering over the dumplings so the aroma carries through the sauce; garlic left to brown would taste bitter.
Serve: ladle the dumplings and plenty of sauce into warm bowls, scatter over the toasted pine nuts if using, and serve hot. The sauce thickens as it stands, so keep the pot warm and loosen later servings with a splash of broth.
Why this recipe works
Three details separate a bowl that holds together from one that leaks or curdles. The dough is unleavened and rests for thirty minutes; that pause relaxes the gluten so it rolls to about 2 mm without springing back, and thin walls poach into tender rather than bready wrappers. The filling is browned and cooled before it goes in, because a hot or wet filling steams and pushes at the seams from inside. And the yogurt is stabilized while it is still cold: the cornstarch hydrates evenly, the beaten egg reinforces the protein network, and constant, gentle heat below a boil keeps the sauce glossy instead of grainy.
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl, for bringing the 300 g of flour together into a soft, supple dough
- Rolling pin, for rolling the rested dough out to about 2 mm
- 4 cm round cutter or the rim of a small glass, for cutting the dough rounds
- Wide pot or deep lidded pan, for poaching the dumplings in the 500 ml of beef broth without crowding them
- Large heavy-based saucepan, 4 to 5 litres, for the yogurt sauce — a thick, wide base spreads the low heat and keeps the sauce from scorching
- Balloon whisk, for smoothing the yogurt, cornstarch and egg completely before any heat goes on
- Slotted spoon, for lifting the poached dumplings out of the broth and guiding them into the sauce
- Small skillet, for the garlic-and-cilantro ghee tempering
Kitchen notes
Kitchen notes
- Make the filling first, then the dough, so the beef cools while the dough rests; the two waits overlap and save you ten minutes. Cooking the filling ahead also means the brief poach and the warm sauce never have to finish raw meat.
- Weigh the flour: 300 g on a scale, not scooped by eye. A flour-heavy dough is stiff, cracks when rolled and seals badly, and no splash of extra water fully rescues a dough you already over-floured.
- Keep every piece of dough covered as you shape — the reserved half, the cut rounds, the finished hats — under a clean kitchen towel or an upturned bowl; a dry skin forms in minutes and splits at the folds.
- Do the shaping with company if you can: in Levantine homes this is a group dish, one person rolling, one filling, one pinching, and dozens of dumplings appear quickly. Line the finished ones up on a floured tray as you go so nothing touches and sticks.
- Toast the pine nuts ahead in the dry pan over medium heat, shaking constantly until golden, then tip them out at once; they go from pale to burnt in seconds, and they can be done while the sauce thickens.
- Taste the sauce just before serving: starch and dairy mute seasoning as they thicken, so it often wants a final pinch of salt — and if your yogurt is on the mild side, a few drops of lemon juice sharpen it back up.
Common mistakes
- Yogurt sauce that splits into grainy curds and watery whey: the pot got too hot, or the yogurt went in chilled and the starch never hydrated evenly. Whisk the cornstarch and egg into room-temperature yogurt before any heat, keep the flame low, and stir constantly in one direction; pull the pan off the burner the moment it wants to bubble.
- The sauce scorches on the bottom: yogurt catches long before it looks like it is cooking. Use a heavy-based pan and keep the spoon moving across the base the whole time, because once a scorched layer forms, a single stir flavors the entire pot.
- Dumplings that open and leak their filling into the sauce: the rounds were overfilled, or the filling was still warm or wet. Use a small teaspoon of cooled, dry filling per round, press the air out before pinching the edge shut, and check every seal before it goes into the broth.
- Dough that fights the rolling pin or tears at the edges: it was too stiff, or it never got its rest. Measure the flour by weight, work in the full 150 ml of water, knead to soft but not sticky, and give it the whole 30 minutes — rested dough rolls thin without cracking.
- A heavy, bready bowl: the wrappers were rolled thicker than 2 mm or overcooked in the sauce. Roll the dough as thin as it will go without tearing, poach only until the dumplings float, and keep the final simmer to the 5 minutes it needs to heat through.
- Harsh, bitter garlic in the topping: the garlic browned in the ghee. Cook it over moderate heat for a minute or two, only until fragrant and barely colored, then take the pan off the heat while it still looks underdone; it keeps cooking in the hot fat.
Serving suggestions
- Ladle into warm bowls with ample sauce, the way it is eaten across the Levant: steaming hot, dumplings half-submerged, the topping spooned over each portion.
- Serve it as the main course with plain or vermicelli rice, or set out warm pita to mop the bowl; rice stretches the tangy sauce further, and both are standard at a Levantine table.
- Pass extra toasted pine nuts, chopped cilantro and, if you like, a pinch of dried mint or mild chili flakes at the table so every bowl keeps a fresh top layer to the last spoon.
- A bright, crunchy salad or a dish of pickles on the side cuts the richness and keeps the meal lively; the bowl is filling on its own, so keep the sides light.
Variations
- Baked finish: many Levantine kitchens bake the shaped dumplings first — 200°C for about 10 minutes, until dry and barely golden — instead of poaching them, then slide them into the yogurt. The wrappers stay firmer and pick up a toasted note; poaching, as here, keeps them softer and more delicate.
- Straight into the sauce: skip the broth and simmer raw dumplings directly in the yogurt for about 20 minutes, until they float. The result is softer and soupier, and slightly riskier — flour from the wrappers thickens the sauce, and the dumplings want a gentler stir.
- Mint finish: across the Levant the topping is a moving target — dried mint often joins or replaces the cilantro, and some kitchens stir a spoonful into the sauce itself for a greener, more herbal edge.
Refrigerator
- RefrigeratorCool the shish barak quickly, divided into shallow containers rather than left in the pot, and refrigerate within 2 hours; leftovers keep, covered, for up to 3 days. The sauce tightens and the dumplings drink more of it as it sits, so plan to loosen it when you reheat.
- ReheatingReheat gently in a saucepan over low heat, stirring in a splash of water or broth, until it is piping hot throughout — 74°C, the safe reheat temperature for leftovers. Bring it only to a bare, trembling simmer; a hard boil turns a smooth sauce grainy.
- FreezingThe dumplings freeze beautifully before cooking: freeze them in a single layer on a tray until solid, bag them up, and keep them for up to 2 months for best quality — frozen food stays safe longer, but the dough slowly loses its tenderness. Cook straight from frozen, adding a few minutes to the poach. The yogurt sauce does not freeze; make it fresh.
- Make aheadThe filling can be cooked up to a day ahead — cool it, cover and refrigerate, then bring it back to room temperature before filling. The dumplings can be shaped and frozen ahead as well; on serving day the sauce thickens in the ten minutes the frozen dumplings need, so the yogurt is always made fresh.
Updated:
How this recipe was developed
- USDA FSIS, Leftovers and Food Safety and Freezing and Food Safety (ground beef cooked to 71°C; leftovers refrigerated within 2 hours and reheated to 74°C; frozen food safe indefinitely, with 2 to 3 months the quality window for composite dishes)
- Maureen Abood, Lebanese Shish Barak (cooking and cooling the filling because the yogurt is never boiled; cornstarch as the stabilizer that keeps warm yogurt smooth; loosening Greek yogurt or labneh with water)
- Urban Farm and Kitchen, Shish Barak (unleavened dough handling; Turkish manti as boiled and topped with yogurt rather than cooked in it; the first written record in a 15th-century Arabic cookbook)
- Wikipedia, Joshpara (the shushbarak and shishbarak name forms; josh, to boil, plus para; the 13th- and 15th-century Arabic cookbook references)
Editorial references are kept internally for verification. This page makes no claim of external certification or professional testing.
FAQ
The questions we get asked most
What is shish barak made of?
Shish barak is a dumpling dish in three parts. The wrapper is a simple unleavened dough of 300 g all-purpose flour, 150 ml lukewarm water, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp fine salt. The filling is 400 g lean ground beef cooked with 1 small onion, 1 tsp seven spice, black pepper and salt. And the sauce is 1 kg of warm full-fat yogurt stabilized with 2 tbsp cornstarch and 1 beaten egg, finished with a ghee-garlic-cilantro topping and toasted pine nuts. The dumplings poach briefly in beef broth, then finish in the sauce.
Is shish barak the same as manti or kibbeh?
No, though it belongs to the same family. Turkish manti are close relatives, but they are usually smaller, often dried, and boiled — then served with yogurt spooned on top, sometimes with a butter-and-chili drizzle. Shish barak cooks its dumplings in the yogurt, which is what defines the dish. Kibbeh is the other common comparison, yet it is built from bulgur and shaped into fried shells or croquettes: a different dough family entirely.
Is shish barak Lebanese or Syrian?
It is proudly Levantine rather than the property of one country. The same dumplings in warm yogurt are cooked in Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian and Palestinian homes, and the dish is documented across the region in medieval Arabic cooking manuscripts. Families argue about the details — the spice mix, the herbs in the topping, whether the dumplings are baked first — but those are arguments inside the Levant, not claims of distant ownership.
Where does shish barak come from, and what does its name mean?
The dish appears in medieval Arabic cooking: a 13th-century Egyptian cookbook already names shushbarak, and a 15th-century collection from Damascus gives a full recipe. The name most likely descends from the Persian joshpara — josh, to boil, plus para, a bit or piece — adapted into Arabic as shushbarak or shishbarak. Its relatives stretch from the Levant deep into Central Asia, where the same dumpling family shows up as chuchvara in Uzbek kitchens and dushbara in Azerbaijani ones.
What is shish barak sauce made of — and can I use Greek yogurt or labneh?
The sauce is warm yogurt: 1 kg of full-fat plain yogurt whisked with 2 tbsp cornstarch and 1 beaten egg, then cooked low and stirred until it coats a spoon, never boiled. Greek yogurt or labneh can replace it at the same weight, but loosen either with a little cold water first, until it pours like thinner laban; they are denser and tangier, so the finished sauce is a shade thicker.
Why did my shish barak yogurt sauce curdle or split?
Almost always heat. Yogurt is finicky once warm: too hot, or warmed unevenly with pauses in stirring, and its proteins tighten and squeeze out watery whey. Prevent it by starting with room-temperature full-fat yogurt, whisking the cornstarch and egg in while it is cold, cooking over low heat and stirring constantly in one direction — and lifting the pot off the flame the moment it threatens to boil. If it still breaks, stir a little extra yogurt through; it will look better, though it will not fully smooth out.
Can I make shish barak ahead of time or freeze it?
Yes to both. The filling can be cooked a day ahead, and the dumplings can be shaped and frozen raw — in a single layer until solid, then bagged for up to 2 months for best quality — and cooked from frozen, adding a few minutes to the poach. A fully made shish barak keeps 3 days in the fridge, but it is at its best the day it is made, so the smart plan is to freeze the dumplings and make the yogurt fresh on serving day.
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