Lebanese Shish Barak – Maureen Abboud

My favourite Lebanese shish barak recipe! Get my step-by-step directions for making mini tortellini-style dumplings in an excellent tasty yogurt soup.

Shish Barak is certainly one of many nice Lebanese dishes that use labneh or yogurt soup as their base: zucchini in labneh and kibbeh in labneh are conventional favourites. It’s totally creamy and makes use of that complicated taste of Lebanese yogurt to nice benefit.

For shish barak, tortellini filled with meat is cooked in a yogurt soup with mint, garlic, and pine nuts. This recipe is commonly requested, and that is how I got here to find out about Shish Barak! Neither facet of my dad and mom’ households made this dish, so how thrilling it’s for me to find what’s a favourite amongst so many Lebanese.

I first tasted shish barak when cousin Jerry introduced a pot for lunch on certainly one of our Baking Days (sure, we do!). It wasn’t that way back. . . . She mentioned she stayed homeA plate of scrumptious minced lamb or beef and onions served on prime of nayyeh kibbeh. It is usually referred to as “brittleness”, which could be a common time period for stuffing or padding. The leftovers impressed her to make use of them in one thing glorious, shish barak dumplings.

From my very first style of deliciousness, I dug into the numerous revealed recipes for shish barak. Though I’ve developed recipes for yogurt soup/gravy/sauce, I’m modifying a few of them right here. I’ve a lot enjoyable making mini tortellini for this dish! I beloved making lots of pasta in cooking faculty, particularly stuffed pasta, so this takes me proper into that satisfying territory. However don’t fret: making tortellini is not troublesome in any respect. Learn on for step-by-step directions and plenty of ideas.

What’s shish barak?

Shish barak are meat-filled tortellini, or small dumplings, cooked in a yogurt soup. The meat is solely spiced with cinnamon, allspice or seven spice and cooked with onions. Tortellini dough may be very primary: flour + salt + water. no yeast. Yogurt soup or sauce can be quite simple, though there are some particular ideas to remember when cooking yogurt.

Some shish barak recipes name for some variations. Tortellini will be pre-baked. The surface of the pasta is not fairly as easy on this case, however the look of the baked tortellini is gorgeous.

The shish barak filling will be pre-cooked, as in my recipe, or used uncooked. If the filling is uncooked in tortellini, it should soften fully when poached in yogurt or if the tortellini is baked. I want to prepare dinner the meat first so I am certain it is all cooked by means of. Additionally, because the yogurt soup is not heated to a boil, I prefer to know the meat is absolutely cooked by means of first. The filling is commonly studded with toasted pine nuts. I save them to garnish soups as a result of that manner they preserve their texture and with out them, the little tortellini are simpler to form.

Yogurt soup for shish barak generally requires rice, egg yolks, or egg whites. These are all yogurt stabilizers and thickeners. Some recipes name for lots of water, which makes for a a lot thinner model than my recipe right here. The thicker, sauceier yogurt in my recipe appears fairly and is a scrumptious solution to eat shish barak!

Substances for making shish barak

For tortellini:

All-purpose flour

salt

water

Minced beef or lean lamb. Whereas many recipes name for coarse floor beef, customary floor beef is way simpler. On the finish, we would like small items of cooked meat to simply fill and form our little tortellini.

yellow onions

cinnamon, spices or 7 spice

To arrange the yogurt soup:

Plain yogurt or full fats milk (Lebanon)

Corn Starch

water

salt

garlic

Lemon juice

Dried and recent mint

olive oil

Roasted pine nuts

Methods to make shish barak

Questions, substitutions and ideas

Cooking yogurt will be difficult! Yogurt likes to curdle when heated, which is why it is stabilized with cornstarch. The secret is to maintain the yogurt shifting and preserve the warmth to medium-low. The method takes longer at this temperature than at excessive warmth, however we heat up the yogurt.

It’s best to make use of full fats yogurt. Low-fat yogurt works, however it will not have the identical texture or taste. Non-thick Greek yogurt or labneh also can work, however it’s greatest to interrupt down these with 1 cup of water into 4 cups of yogurt as referred to as for within the recipe.

What if the yogurt breaks? There aren’t any good options on this case, as a result of tortellini is in yogurt and it is flour. Considerably damaged yogurt will be hidden by including extra yogurt and heating the combination very gently.

Can i take advantage of floor rooster or vegetable protein? actually! Observe the identical steps as for cooking floor beef or lamb.

Do tortellini ready right here work? The flavour of selfmade tortellini is a vital a part of what makes shish barak style so nice. Nonetheless, bought recent tortellini will be cooked in a yogurt soup. If utilizing bought dry tortellini, prepare dinner the tortellini earlier than including it to the yogurt.

How can I do that upfront? The tortellini are superb, frozen. Freeze on a tray, then place the frozen tortellini in a freezer bag or hermetic container. To prepare dinner from frozen, unfold tortellini on a griddle to thaw, then add to yogurt soup to prepare dinner.

Extra recipes like this to attempt

Zucchini with yogurt sauce

Kibbeh with yogurt sauce, kibbeh with milk

Selfmade Yoghurt (Laban) Recipe

Lebanese shish barak

Maureen Abboud

My favourite Lebanese shish barak recipe! My step-by-step directions make it simple. Be sure you learn my submit for a great deal of ideas for achievement!

preparation time 30 minute

Cooking time 15 minute

To arrange the dough:

• 2 Glasses All-purpose flour
• 1 small spoon salt
• 3/4 cup heat water

To fill:

• 1 small spoon Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 fairy Minced beef or lamb
• 1 small Finely chopped yellow onion
• 1/4 small spoon Cinnamon, allspice, or 7 spices
• Salt and pepper to style

Make the dough:

• Combine the flour, salt and water to type a comfortable dough. Work right into a ball and let it relaxation and canopy when you make the filling.

Make the filling:

• Cook dinner the diced yellow onion in just a little olive oil till it turns into translucent. Add the minced meat or lamb and season with salt, cinnamon and allspice or seven spice. Cook dinner till now not pink, breaking the meat into skinny items, about 8 minutes. Put aside to chill.

Roll and reduce the dough.

• Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Reduce out 2-inch circles with a spherical cutter, glass cup, or jar head. Reduce the circles very shut collectively to make use of up as a lot dough as potential. Pull the scraps up, knead, and put aside, coated, to roll once more for a second spherical.

Fill and form tortellini.

• Flip the reduce circle over in order that the wetter facet is dealing with up. This may enable the seams to stay collectively higher when closed. Place just a little of the meat filling, lower than a teaspoonful, within the heart of the circle.

• Fold the dough over the filling in half, like an empanada or calzone, and press the sides of the dough collectively. Make certain the filling stays in place as you carry the sides of the dough collectively.

• Raise dough bag, carry ends collectively, and press to seal. It’s useful to make use of your finger as a “brace”: carry the ends across the finger and press closed. Repeat with the entire dough. There could also be some filling left. Place the completed tortellini on a tray lined with parchment paper.

Make yogurt soup.

• Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl.

• In a medium saucepan or soup pot, whisk collectively yogurt, cornstarch combination, salt, lemon juice, and minced garlic. With fixed stirring, warmth the buttermilk over medium-low warmth.

• Add the tortellini, which is reasonably delicate, to the yogurt combination. Hold the tortellini as separate as potential so they do not stick collectively. Gently stir combination till heated by means of, however not boiling, about 10 minutes.

• Gently place tortellini on particular person serving dishes. Spoon just a little buttermilk soup over and round it. Garnish with olive oil, dried mint, recent mint and pine nuts. Serve instantly.

(visited 28 instances, 28 visits at this time)