• Terminology
  • Name and Meaning
  • Etymology
• Ingredients and Preparation
  • Dough
  • Filling
  • Preparation
  • Cooking Methods
• Geography and Migration
  • Origin
  • Spread
  • Date
• Cultural Associations
  • Gender
  • Holidays
• Bibliography

COOKING METHODS

Cooking Shishbarak

A standard recipe calls for a variation on the following:

1 lb. Labneh (a kind of strained yogurt)
6 c. water
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 heaping teaspoon dried mint powder
½ tsp. dried cilantro leaves
1 lemon, juiced
½ tsp. salt or to taste
Many recipes mention the use of cornstarch as a thickener

Shishbarak is boiled in yogurt spiced with mint, cilantro and garlic. Add plain yogurt (Americanized recipes call for Greek yogurt, though more traditional recipes express preference for plain goat yogurt or Labneh, which is strained yogurt over cow’s milk yogurt) with a bit of water in a pot and bring to a boil slowly. Once boiling, add salt, dried mint powder, crushed garlic, cilantro leaves and let simmer, stirring occasionally for twenty minutes or so until dumplings are well cooked. Some dumplings, as is typical in Lebanon and Syria, call for the frying of the dumplings on a skillet before adding them to the yogurt soup for final poaching.

If using yogurt made from sheep’s or goat’s milk, it is unnecessary to stabilize it before cooking. However, if the yogurt being used is made from cow’s milk (which is common in the west), it must be stabilized to prevent curdling. Stirring the yogurt in one direction is a traditional Middle Eastern method to avoid curdling.  This is how to stabilize yogurt:

1 quart additive-free plain yogurt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with a little of the yogurt or cold water
1 teaspoon salt or to taste

In a saucepan, beat the yogurt until smooth then add other ingredients. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly in one direction. Reduce heat to as low as possible and let sit, uncovered, for about ten minutes until the sauce is thickened. Now it can be combined with the dumplings and cooked without curdling.

 

Cooking Chuchvara

Chuchvara (or chuchvara shurva, as the soup is sometimes called) is boiled in a beef or chicken bouillon instead of a yogurt soup. Uzbekistan does not use dairy products as much as do other Central Asian countries. The soup is prepared using a variation on the following:

Vegetable oil
1 small onion
Tomato paste
Beef or lamb broth
Salt and pepper

Chuchvara is boiled in salt water or bouillon and seasoned with pepper, onion and tomato paste, black pepper or sour cream. Chuchvara is eaten both with and without the broth and is served with suzma, a hard white cheese made from yogurt, melted butter or red wine vinegar.