Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Shish Barak
Little Syrian meat dumplings baked then simmered in a warm, garlicky cooked-yogurt sauce, finished with fried garlic and pine nuts.
Syrian · advanced · serves 4
prep 60 min · cook 45 min
~650 cal · 31g protein · 73g carbs · 25g fat · 3g fiber · 14g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Shish barak are tiny Syrian dumplings, folded around spiced minced meat and onion, baked briefly to set their shape, then simmered in a silky cooked-yogurt sauce. Stabilising the yogurt with a little cornstarch and constant stirring keeps it smooth as it heats.
Finished with a spoonful of garlic and cilantro fried in butter and a scatter of toasted pine nuts, it is a labour-of-love family dish beloved across Damascus and the wider Levant, usually served with rice or .
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup water
8 oz ground lamb or beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cups plain yogurt
3 tbsp cornstarch
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp olive oil
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Make a firm dough from the flour, water and a little salt. Knead until smooth, cover, and rest 30 minutes.
2
Brown the meat with the onion, allspice and cinnamon and let it cool. Roll the dough thin, cut into small rounds, fill each with a little meat, and pinch into sealed dumplings.
3
Arrange the dumplings on an oiled tray and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes until lightly golden.
✎ Chef’s note
The quick bake sets the dumplings so they hold their shape instead of bursting in the sauce.
4
Whisk the yogurt with the cornstarch dissolved in a cup of water and a little salt, then heat gently, stirring constantly in one direction until it thickens and simmers. Never let it boil hard or it will split.
5
Slide the dumplings into the yogurt sauce and simmer 10 minutes. Fry the garlic and cilantro in the oil, toast the pine nuts, and spoon both over the top to serve.
Syrian family recipe.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Damascus. The mezze table is a sequence rather than a spread. Cold dishes go down first, hummus, labneh, pickles and vine leaves, then hot small plates, then grilled meat, and bread does the work of cutlery the whole way through. The point of it is that it takes a long time.
🗺️
Syria. Aleppo and Damascus are not interchangeable. Muhammara, red pepper and walnut pounded with pomegranate molasses, is Aleppine; so is the kibbeh made with sour cherries, and so is the seven-spice baharat that goes into it. Aleppo pepper is a named cultivar, halaby, sun-dried and rubbed with oil rather than simply dried, which is why it is fruity rather than sharp.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Syria
KibbehTorpedo-shaped bulgur shells stuffed with spiced meat and pine nuts, fried until crisp.
BalilaWarm chickpeas dressed with cumin, lemon, garlic, and olive oil, a simple Damascene breakfast.
Chicken ShawarmaMarinated spiced chicken roasted and shaved into flatbread with garlic sauce and pickles, the Levant's great street lunch.
Browse all Syria recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Whisk.
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
Make it a Syria meal
Sous (Licorice Drink)Drink
Halawet el JibnDessert
Chicken ShawarmaLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Shish Barak?
Little Syrian meat dumplings baked then simmered in a warm, garlicky cooked-yogurt sauce, finished with fried garlic and pine nuts.
Where does Shish Barak come from?
Shish Barak is a Syrian dish from Damascus, Syria.
Can Shish Barak be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Shish Barak recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Shish Barak safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Shish Barak take to make?
About 105 minutes total (60 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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