Shish Barak

Where This Goes Wrong

Bake the dumplings first. It is what keeps the sauce clean.

Pinch the corners into a ring — the seam holds better.

One direction, constant stirring, until the yogurt simmers.

Cooking Shish Barak

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1. Knead the flour, water, oil and salt to a firm smooth dough, 8 minutes. Cover and leave while you make the filling.

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2. Mix the raw lamb with the onion, allspice, salt and pine nuts.

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3. Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F. Roll the dough as thin as you can and cut 5 cm rounds.

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4. Put a scant half-teaspoon of filling on each, fold to a half-moon and pinch shut, then bring the two corners together and pinch them into a ring.

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5. Bake the dumplings on lined trays 12 minutes, until firm and lightly coloured. They do not need to be cooked through.

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6. Whisk the yogurt, egg white, cornflour, water and salt smooth, then stir constantly in one direction over medium heat for 10 minutes until it simmers. Simmer 3 minutes more.

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7. Add the dumplings and cook gently 12 minutes, moving the pan rather than stirring.

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8. Fry the garlic in the oil 40 seconds, stir in the dried mint off the heat, and pour over. Serve immediately.

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What's Going On Here

The dumplings are baked before they go into the sauce, which is the step most recipes skip and the one that makes the dish. Raw dumplings simmered in yogurt release flour and grey meat juices into the sauce and go slack; twelve minutes in a hot oven sets the pastry, browns the meat and means they hold their shape and their bite. The ring shape matters too — joining the two corners of the half-moon gives a thicker seam that survives the simmer.

Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping

Refrigerated for 2 days; rewarm over low heat without boiling. The baked dumplings freeze for 2 months.

Swaps and Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried mint at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

What to Serve Alongside

• Plain rice
• A radish and mint salad
• Flatbread

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Lebanese Cabbage Salad, Lebanese Garlic Potatoes.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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