Gluten-Free Shish Barak

I always loved shish barak, but I wasn’t able to eat them for a long time. I tried this recipe and it worked perfectly. I cooked some in yoghurt (the traditional Lebanese way) and my husband loved them, but since I cannot eat dairy products, I cooked some in tomato sauce and they turned out delicious! I hope you will try them and enjoy them.

Ingredients (dough)

- 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour mix

- 1 tbsp. potato flour

- ½ tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp salt

- 1 tbsp. olive oil

- 1/3 cup water

Method (dough)

1. Put the flour, potato flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
2. Add the olive oil and water and mix well until a dough is formed.
3. Use your hands to knead it for 2 minutes and then put it in a bowl and cover to rest for 30 minutes.
4. Use two sheets of nylon wrap to roll the dough using a rolling pin.
5. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into small circles.
6. Fill each circle with some cooked minced meat (recipe will follow) and close to make the traditional shape of shish barak (See the photos).
7. Oil a baking sheet and arrange the shish barak on the sheet.
8. Spray the shish barak with cooking oil spray.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C) for around 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Ingredients (stuffing/minced meat)

- 1 onion, diced

- 2-3 tbsp. canola oil

- 200 grams minced meat (I used beef, but you can also use lamb)

- 1 tbsp. pine nuts (optional)

- ½ tsp salt

- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

- Freshly ground black pepper

- Freshly grated nutmeg

Method (stuffing/minced meat)

1. Put the oil in a deep frying pan on the heat.
2. Add the onion and the salt and cook until translucent and soft.
3. Add the minced meat and cook with the onion until the meat is well done.
4. Add the pine nuts (if using) and cinnamon, black pepper, and nutmeg and mix well.
5. Keep the meat aside until it cools to use it to stuff the pastry of shish barak.

Yields: 30 pieces

Ingredients (Cooked yogurt)

- 1 kg full-fat yoghurt

- 3 tbsp. corn flour

- 1 ½ cups water

- 1 tsp salt

- 2 cloves garlic crushed

- ½ tsp dried mint (or 2 tbsp. chopped fresh mint)

- 1 tbsp. canola oil (or butter)

Method (Cooked yogurt)

1. Put the oil (or butter) in a frying pan.
2. Add garlic and mint and stir well until the garlic is toasted but not brown.
3. Keep aside.
4. Put the yoghurt in a pot.
5. Mix the corn flour and salt with the water and add to the yoghurt.
6. Stir well and put on medium heat.
7. Cooking yoghurt can be a bit tricky. You have to keep stirring until the yoghurt starts boiling.
8. You cannot stop stirring.
9. Once the yoghurt starts boiling, lower the heat.
10. Add the garlic and mint mixture and stir well.
11. Let the yoghurt simmer for 2 minutes then add the shish barak.
12. Stir well and let it boil for 3-4 minutes.
13. Serve immediately with white rice.

Ingredients (tomato sauce)

See recipe of homemade tomato sauce.

Method (Shish barak in tomato sauce)

1. Put the tomato sauce in a saucepan on the heat and add ½ cup of water.
2. Mix well and let it come to a boil.
3. Add the shish barak and let it simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
4. Serve immediately.