Shish Barak – Middle Eastern Gnocchi
Time for another one of my Middle Eastern recipes! This one is called Shish Barak and is a dough stuffed with meat and onions, served in a yogurt-type sauce. I would liken this to Polish perogies or Italian gnocchi but I don’t think there’s anything quite like it in the American diet. This meal is easy but it does require some time (multi-step process). However, the end result will have you forgetting all the work you put into it. At least, I hope so.
The hubs loves this – for a full-fledged American, he does amazingly well with foreign foods. None of the ingredients require special trips to international grocery stores and you may even have them all in your cupboards.
The dough itself is just your basic flour & water dough rolled out and stuffed with a beef and onion mixture. The little pockets are sealed, ends joined, and baked for a few minutes. Then they are added to a yogurt/egg mixture and served with dried mint. Yep, that’s it! Several steps but great for a beginner and healthy to boot!
1. Flour is combined with eggs and water to make dough.
2. Knead and gather into a ball. Let rest for a few minutes.
3. Roll out.
4. Use a 3-4″ in diameter circle to cut out dough.
5. Beef mixture. COOKED.
6. Lay dough circle out.
7. Add 1-2 tsp meat mixture to middle (do not allow meat to touch edges).
8. Fold in half and seal edges, making sure that edges are fully sealed and no meat escapes.
9. Join ends together.
10. Lay on a well-oiled pan. Bake about 10 minutes or until dough is slightly golden.
11. While dough balls are baking, mix yogurt, egg, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil.
12. Add dough balls to the yogurt mixture and cook for 5 minutes. Serve with dried mint on top.
