Shish Barak (Arab dumplings/mandu/mantee) - ششبرك‎

Shish Barak is a relatively obscure Middle Eastern/Arab dish comprised of spiced lamb-filled dumplings, usually cooked in a garlicky, herb-laced yogurt broth. For those familiar with Turkish, Iranian, Afghan, Central Asian, and East Asian dumpling presentations Shish Barak is instantly recognizable as a member of the family of meat-filled, unleavened dough, usually boiled or steamed and served plain, or more often, with a tangy sauce. In that respect Shish Barak's genealogical relations include Korean mandoo, Central Asian and Turkic manti, Afghan and Iranian mantu, to say nothing of similar dishes in Italian cuisine (ravioli, tortellini). Most theories on the origin of Shish Barak in Arabic cuisine hold that it was introduced by the Ottoman Turks, and became popular among certain populations in the Levant (Bilad As-Sham - Syria, Lebanon, Palestine) and Iraq. One is unlikely to find Shish Barak in the Gulf states, Yemen, and Egypt.

Even among Palestinians, for example, the dish isn't particularly well-known. I first encountered it when a Christian Palestinian/Chilean relative by marriage cooked it at a family gathering in Chicago. I suspect that Shish Barak was more popular in Palestine's urban populations, where interactions with Ottoman authority and culture were more acute, in places like Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Yaffa. In my years of traveling to the rural West Bank, I've never encountered it at any family meals.

The preparation can be simple or extremely time consuming. Of course, the latter provides for a better structured and complex final dish. On the simpler end of the spectrum, all you have to do is fill pre-made dumpling wrappers with lightly cooked spiced lamb or beef, prepare a broth of yogurt diluted with water or stock (and re-thickened with a bit of corn starch), and lightly cook the dumplings in the broth. The more labor intensive version, which I will explain here, is much more satisfying.

Ingredients:

Spiced lamb filling:
- 1 pound finely ground lamb (you can ask for "kofta" grind at a Middle Eastern butcher like Sahar)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, shelled pistachios, or sliced almonds
- 1 heaping tablespoon "7 spices" or "baharat" (available at a Middle Eastern grocer)
- 1 tablespoon allspice
- Salt

Yogurt broth:
- 4-5 cups of lamb broth. I made mine by boiling a sheep's head - available at some Middle Eastern butchers with charred onion and garlic for about 4 hours, skimming foam, and clarifying the broth after a night in the fridge.
- 1 cup of yogurt (goat milk preferred); you can also use labneh, the thickened Arab yogurt, and I would use about half the amount.
- 2-3 heaping tablepoons of kishk (kishk is a dried yogurt and wheat product available at ME markets) this can be omitted, but I love the tangy, fermented, almost blue-cheese like quality it adds. The added wheat will also thicken the broth and ensure that the yogurt does not separate, obviating the need to add corn starch or egg whites as other recipes recommend.
- a good amount of dried mint and dried cilantro. Fresh chopped mint and cilantro can also be used.
- 3-4 finely chopped cloves of garlic.

Dumpling wrapper:
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water
- two tablespoons olive oil
- tablespoon salt

Method:
1) Prepare dough by combining ingredients in electric mixer (or knead by hand). Mix dough until ingredients are incorporated into a dough. Let rest for at least 30 minutes.

2) Prepare broth by heating lamb broth, whisking in yogurt and kishk. Whisk on a law flame and whisk until the broth is smooth and slightly thickened. Add more kishk to taste if you prefer a thicker, tangier broth. Additional yogurt can also be added for taste/texture. Once the broth has been incorporated with yogurt and kishk, simmer lightly, then turn off stove while you make the dumplings and filling.

3) Prepare filling by sauteing diced onion in a healthy amount of good olive oil until soft. Add salt and spices. Add meat and cook on low flame until meat begins drying out, but not too dry (about 15 minutes). Toast nuts in a separate pan and add to meat/onion mixture once it has been cooked. Place filling to the side so that it cools to room temperature. Taste for salt and spice. Add more if needed!

4) Roll out well-rested dough on a floured surface until it is about an 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut out dumplings with a medium cook cutter, about three to four inches in diameter.

5) Prepare dumplings by spooning in about a teaspoon of filling into each dumpling wrapper. Seal dumplings at edges (you can dab a little water on the inside edge if the seal is not holding) so that they form a half-moon shape. At this point you can keep the dumplings as-is, or fold the far edges of the crescent together to form a tortellini shaped pasta. Put the dumplings to the side on a lightly floured surface.

6) Re-heat the yogurt broth. Add enough dumplings to the simmering broth so that all dumplings are covered in broth but do not overcrowd. 8-12 dumplings should do the trick. The remaining dumplings can be frozen for later use. Simmer dumplings in broth for about 7 minutes for dough to cook and then turn off the heat. Add heaping amounts of mint and cilantro, and the crushed garlic, to the hot broth, and stir to incorporate. Let sit for a few minutes for garlic and herbs to soften and flavor broth.

7) Serve in soup bowls! You can garnish with sumac, paprika (spicy or sweet), urfa or aleppo pepper, whatever you want! You can even drizzle a little melted butter or ghee over the soup.

Here are some pictures:

Lamb's head for broth, quartered (I removed the brains and made delicious fritters the day prior):



Broth, yogurt and kishk incorporated:



Filling:



Dough, pre-rest, then rolled out and cut for dumplings:







Dumplings added and simmered, herbs and crushed garlic added:



Sahtein!!

killer post, sounds and looks great.

AlekH wrote:killer post, sounds and looks great.

What he said!

Dude, Habibi, we seriously need to start hanging around together...
I need way more stuff like this in my life.

Great stuff Habibi. I'm trying to place what the name means, and I have a guess. Shish is a reference to the meat inside the dumpling and barak is the dough wrapper like a burek/borek. So it's a shish kebab burek.

turkob wrote:Great stuff Habibi. I'm trying to place what the name means, and I have a guess. Shish is a reference to the meat inside the dumpling and barak is the dough wrapper like a burek/borek. So it's a shish kebab burek.

Apparently, it comes via folk etymology (connecting it to the words shish and börek, as you surmise) from the word joshpara (the old Persian name for this dish).

Cite here.

Oh, and by the way, the dish looks excellent! Can't wait to try it soon.

Binko wrote:

turkob wrote:Great stuff Habibi. I'm trying to place what the name means, and I have a guess. Shish is a reference to the meat inside the dumpling and barak is the dough wrapper like a burek/borek. So it's a shish kebab burek.

Apparently, it comes via folk etymology (connecting it to the words shish and börek, as you surmise) from the word joshpara (the old Persian name for this dish).

Cite here.

Oh, and by the way, the dish looks excellent! Can't wait to try it soon.

Nice! I knew where shish came from but didn't make the barak/burek connection. Great call. BTW, I love the Turkish version(s) of this dish. I wonder if I can find a place that has them in NYC? In Chicago, I recall that Cafe Orchid did a pretty solid rendition.

Habibi wrote:Nice! I knew where shish came from but didn't make the barak/burek connection. Great call. BTW, I love the Turkish version(s) of this dish. I wonder if I can find a place that has them in NYC? In Chicago, I recall that Cafe Orchid did a pretty solid rendition.

It was also interesting reading to the end of that citation, as it appears that Russian pilmeni are directly descended from the Persian joshpara, too.

Oh, and I didn't notice this (somehow, I didn't read the end of the subject line with the other names), but I have made this dish before, as mantı. I made the teeny-tiny version and I can tell you that was the biggest pain in the ass. Man, was it delicious (one of the best dishes I've eaten/made), but man did I hate doing all that dough work. I believe the recipe was similar to this one, but I remember it being in Saveur, not Martha Stewart. (Actually, never mind, I found the Saveur recipe here).

Binko wrote:

Habibi wrote:Nice! I knew where shish came from but didn't make the barak/burek connection. Great call. BTW, I love the Turkish version(s) of this dish. I wonder if I can find a place that has them in NYC? In Chicago, I recall that Cafe Orchid did a pretty solid rendition.

It was also interesting reading to the end of that citation, as it appears that Russian pilmeni are directly descended from the Persian joshpara, too.

Oh, and I didn't notice this (somehow, I didn't read the end of the subject line with the other names), but I have made this dish before, as mantı. I made the teeny-tiny version and I can tell you that was the biggest pain in the ass. Man, was it delicious (one of the best dishes I've eaten/made), but man did I hate doing all that dough work. I believe the recipe was similar to this one, but I remember it being in Saveur, not Martha Stewart. (Actually, never mind, I found the Saveur recipe here).

I totally forgot about pelmini. I've never really had them, but of course I know of them. The Persian connection also raises an interesting question - did the Arabs first inherit it from them or from the Turks?

I wanted to add one more thing - I made this recipe with with day-old cooked lamb (it had been prepared for another meal, but the recipe was essentially the same). If I made this again, I'd use uncooked lamb mixed with the same spices and cooked onion. I think that's how the Turks do it for manti (at least, that's how it's done in the recipe you shared and others I've seen). This would lead, of course, to a more moist and juicy dumpling, resembling the succulent filling of potstickers.

Intrigued about this, I asked Sweet Baboo, who is Assyrian, but he did not recognize either the name or the dish. I also couldn't find anything like it in the collection of Assyrian recipes I have, and couldn't find any mention of Assyrian dumplings resembling this dish in an online search. So while it may be a thing for Persians, among others, it doesn't seem to be a thing for Assyrians, which strikes me as odd.

Nicole Routhier has a recipe for Turkish Lamb Manti. Pyramidal ground lamb dumplings are pan fried on the bottom then steamed in broth, then a garlicky yogurt is served over them. I've made them several items, they're wonderful.