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Shishbarak

Levant

Tiny yogurt-soup dumplings that make the sauce part of the structure.

Shishbarak are small meat dumplings cooked in yogurt sauce, part of Levantine home cooking and a wider West Asian filled-dough landscape. This atlas treats the dish through evidence, technique, and present-day use rather than a single neat origin story.

This entry is written as a working Dumpling-pedia note: what it is, where it shows up, what people claim about it, and how much of that claim can stand up.

What It Is

Shishbarak are small meat dumplings cooked in yogurt sauce, part of Levantine home cooking and a wider West Asian filled-dough landscape.[1]

Why It Matters

A labor-intensive comfort dish often associated with family cooking.[1]

Origin Story

Shishbarak are small meat dumplings cooked in yogurt sauce, part of Levantine home cooking and a wider West Asian filled-dough landscape.[1]

  • Yogurt-cooked dumplings invite comparison with manti but should not be reduced to it.[1]
  • Household techniques vary by country and family.[1]

Recipe Outline

Fill small dough rounds with meat, seal, and simmer in stabilized yogurt sauce.

Ingredients

  • flour
  • lamb
  • onion
  • yogurt
  • garlic
  • mint

Steps

  1. Make dough.
  2. Cook filling.
  3. Shape tiny dumplings.
  4. Cook in yogurt sauce.

Use mushrooms, lentils, or chickpeas, though meat is traditional.

Related Dumplings

Turkish mantı

Turkey

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Afghan mantu

Afghanistan

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Jewish kreplach

Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora

Compare

Sources

The New Book of Middle Eastern Food

Source

Claudia Roden · Knopf · 2000-09-26

Used for: Levantine and Middle Eastern dumpling context.

Levantine and Middle Eastern dumpling context.

book reference - Accessed 2026-06-30