Firstly I would like to thank Imran for writing a beautiful post about my blog …
This recipe was requested by Tarena …. Shish barak is a pasta like dish popular across the Levant countries (Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan) .. I was surprised when i read that it appears in Levant cookbooks as far as the early 15th century and is still made the same way as it was made then … its a dough filled with minced meat and shaped into a shape similar to a tortellini then served with yogurt sauce … the sauce is basically yogurt, garlic and coriander (some people like to use mint instead) … of course every family around the Levant has there own recipe for it … and this is the recipe passed from my grandma … so to make it you will need:
Serves: 8 – 10 (or 4 -5 in two batches)
Dough:
- 4 cups flour
- 1/2 ts yeast
- 1 tb vegetable oil
- a pinch of salt
- water … as much as needed to form the dough
Filling:
- 1 small onion .. finely chopped
- 1 lb minced meat
- 1 ts allspice
- salt and pepper
- 1 tb ghee or butter
Sauce (enough for half the amount of shish barak):
- 1 liter yogurt … around 4 cups
- 3 tb cornstarch
- Salt … to taste
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1/4 finely chopped coriander
- 2 tb Ghee or butter
Using an stand-up mixer …. add the flour, yeast and vegetable oil …
Start by adding the water … first add 1 cup … then a little at a time … until you get a firm dough that doesnt stick to the sides of the bowl … also it shouldn’t stick to your fingers when lightly pinched …
Lightly flour a bowl .. and place the dough to rest for around 1/2 an hour … or until you prepare the filling …
For the filling:
Refer to the filling of the fried kibbe or kubbe recipe … its the same … then let it completely cool down before using it …
Now to shape the shish barak … first roll out the dough … you can either use a rolling pin or use a pasta machine maker like I did …
It should be rolled thin.. a little thicker than a lasagna … around 0.2 mm
Then using a 2 inch round cutter or a Turkish coffee cup like I did 
… cut the dough into circles
ps. you can increase the size if you wish to
Now add around 3/4 ts of meat to the center of the dough …
Start closing the dough to form a semi-circle …
This is how it should look … like a cresent
Now hold the two edges of the cresent … and bring them together …
Forming something that looks similar to a hat … and you got your first shish barak …
Keep repeating until the dough is over …
Now place all the shish barak onto a baking sheet …
ps. some people skip this step and drop the dough straight to the yogurt …
Bake the shish barak at medium heat until the bottom is golden … the top should stay white as you can see in the photo ..
ps. at this point you can freeze the shish barak and whenever you need it just simply make the yogurt sauce and drop the shish barak without defrosting it …
NOTE: the amount of yogurt sauce mentioned in the ingredients is enough for HALF the shish barak and not the whole amount … if you want to make the whole amount at once then double the sauce ingredients …
To make the sauce … using a sieve … strain the yogurt .. this process is important if you don’t strain the yogurt .. it will split when it starts boiling …
Fill around 1/2 cup of water and dessolve the cornstarch in it …
Then add the cornstarch mixture to the yogurt …
Whisk the yogurt sauce on low heat until it slightly thickens …. then add the salt to it …
Now add half the shish barak and let it boil for around 10 mins …
In a frying pan .. melt the ghee or butter … then add the minced garlic and cook until its golden …
Then add the coriander and cook a little more …
Then add the garlic, coriander mixture to the shish barak … mix it well… then take it off the heat …
Serve immediately while its still hot …
Enjoy …
Interesting dish!
Hi Laila,
great recipe…I never heard about it before, but I like it.
Oh,sorry if I asked too much questions in my e-mail..I hope I didn’t annoy you
Not at all Marwa … im always happy to help … about this recipe … although it takes a lot of work but its so worth it … hope you try it out .. and stay in touch
Good Day! Was great seeing you over on my blog.
This too looks delish! Good thing I have an extra freezer out in the shed. Would be good to bring to one of our potlucks at work.
Sleepy Cat Hollow´s last blog ..My version of PF Chang’s Lettuce Wrap recipe
Thanx for dropping by …. let me know when you give it a try … and stay in touch
Looks great. My family used to make something similar except no yogurt sauce. And some would be filled with a spinach/pine nut mixture. Do you know it?
A couple questions. What temperature do you set the oven? Also when straining the yogurt, do you use the remnant on top of the sieve or what has strained through it?
Thanx Sean … yea i know the spinach/pine filling but never tried making it though …
.. let me know how it turns out …and stay in touch 
about the oven temp its around 180°C .. bake it just until its slightly golden from down … and about the straining … i don’t use any remnant on top of the sieve .. this step is done so the yogurt doesn’t separate ( it might split and water will show on top and might curdle too ) .. some people blend the yogurt in a blender for a minute instead of passing it through a sieve … the whole point is to blend the yogurt well so it doesn’t separate … hope this answers your questions
hi laila, this looks absolutely delicious, i guess i could make a vegetarian version with spinach right? if u have a vegetarian version pls. do share it!
Hi Rajani … well traditionally we only make it with minced meat and to be honest i never tried to make it any other way … but i think it will turn out good with spinach … let me know how it turns out if you try it out
Salaam alaykum, Laila. Thank you for mentioning my site.
I haven’t been able to try some of your recipe yet. 
I can’t find all the ingredients. I’m going to Atlanta in few days. I’m sure I’ll find all the ingredients in Middle Eastern stores there. But you’ll be proud of me knowing what I did. I actually cooked today. I baked a fish. When I was preparing it, I was thinking I was so going to show you. Haha. So here they are http://home.comcast.net/~zstore/fish_a.jpg and http://home.comcast.net/~zstore/fish_b.jpg
I thought it looked good. It tasted…um…edible. Let’s just leave it at that. :p
Imran´s last blog ..From UAE, With Lots of Love
Wa alaykum assalam Imran … I hope you find all the ingredients you need in Atlanta …. glad to hear that you started cooking … the photo of the fish looks really delicious … you did a great job at it … stay in touch
Wow, many years ago my grandma used to make Shishbarak from time to time, (she was Lebanese) sometimes she did so with yogurt, and sometimes with mutton broth and I really loved it.
I found the recipe by chance and am very happy to know how to do it myself.
I can only say thank you.
Hi Daniel .. im glad you found the recipe after so long… do let me know if you get to try it out .. stay in touch
Wow,that’s nice,but frankly saying I didn’t heard that shish-barak needs coriander.I’m married to a syrian and i looove arabic food,i’ve learned a lot of recipes from my mother-in-law and my husband is very happy with it.
Thank you for your recipe!
Thanx Oxana … Well in my family we use coriander but i know some family’s use dried mint too .. i tried it before and it tastes good too … so you can try it both ways and see which one you prefer
… thanx a lot for dropping by … do let me know when you try any recipe out .. and stay in touch 
Your shish barak looks fantastic!
Cherine´s last blog ..Chicken Provencal
Thanx Cherine …. let me know when you give it a try …. and do stay in touch
Hi Laila, I can’t wait to try this recipe. I have a question if I may? Have you ever heard of Knafeh it is a dessert make with phillo dough and cheese with a simple syrup on top… Do you happen to have the recipe. I did nt find it here. Thank you so much for your help…
Sincerely, Kandi
Hay Kandi … yea i know knafeh … and i already posted it … here is the link … its really simple to make … do let me know how any recipe you try turns out .. and stay in touch