Shish Barak

The name comes from Persian and rests on the words for a lamb’s ear; in Arabic the dish is also called an old man’s ear. The dough is rolled thin and cut into small rounds, minced meat fried with onion goes in the middle, the edges are pressed shut and the parcel is folded into an ear. The parcels are laid out on a tray.

It cooks in the yoghurt

The parcels do not go into boiling water but into garlic yoghurt whisked with starch and cooked through. The Damascus way is to brown them lightly in the oven first and then let them down into the yoghurt, so the dough does not fall apart in the pot. Coriander and garlic fried in fat are poured over the top.

Where to eat it

Its identity is a home-kitchen one. Restaurants in Damascus that put out a dish of the day carry it around midday; it is rare in the evening. There is a wide gap between places that roll their own dough and places that buy it in, and the thinness of the parcel tells you which.

How it differs from kibbeh labaniyeh

Both cook in yoghurt and the two get confused often. Shish barak is made of dough, kibbeh labaniyeh of bulgur. The same plain white rice comes with each, and both want to be eaten hot.