Yogurt Soup with Meat and Parsley Stuffed Dumplings

(from largomason’s recipe box)

Source: choosy-beggars.com

Ingredients

  • Yogurt Soup
  • 1 medium yellow cooking onion
  • 2 fat cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes, optional
  • 3/4 cup long grain white rice
  • 5 cups water
  • 4 cups natural yogurt
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 recipe Meat and Parsley Stuffed Dumplings (follows)
  • dried mint for garnish
  • Meat and Parsley Stuffed Dumplings (double batch)
  • 1 tbsp active yeast
  • 2 cups warm water
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 5.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • 700 g (1.5 lb) extra lean ground beef
  • 1/2 large sweet onion (or 1 medium yellow cooking onion)
  • 2 fat cloves garlic
  • small bunch fresh parsley (1/2 cup finely chopped)
  • 1/2 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Start with the dumplings, because they are the time consuming portion of this meal. Pour the warm (not hot) water over the yeast and sugar. Leave this to sit for about 5 minutes, or until you see that the mixture is frothy and foamy.

  2. Add the egg, oil and salt to the yeast mixture and give it a good whisk to make sure everything is well combined.

  3. Scoop five (5) cups of flour into the bowl and start working it into the wet ingredients until it starts to form a scrappy dough.

  4. Start to work the dough until it comes together. You can knead it directly in the bowl, because the oil in the mix will help to prevent it from sticking to anything other than itself…and your hands. Speaking of, how does the dough feel to you? After a few minutes of kneading it should feel tough, dense and almost dry to the touch. You don’t want a sticky dough that will make your life miserable when you’re rolling it out. Add the additional half cup of flour (or slightly more – use your judgment) if the dough does not feel heavy and dry, and work this in until it is absorbed into the greater mass.

  5. Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and let it sit in a warm draft free spot for an hour, or until it has roughly doubled in size.

  6. Turn the ground beef into a mixing bowl. Grate the onions and add the flesh and any accumulated juices to the meat. Grate in the garlic (I use a rasp) or use a garlic press to pulp it out and add to the meat along with the dried spices.

  7. Discard the stems of your parsley and chop the leaves as finely as if you were making tabouli. Add the parsley to the mix and season with salt and pepper and mix it well until everything is incorporated. I would use about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, but add according to your own taste. You want the meat to be well seasoned and flavorful.

  8. Preheat the oven to 400ºF with your racks in the center or upper third.

  9. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Gently flour your work area and partially roll out one piece of dough (keeping the rest under your tea towel so that they don’t dry out) until it is flat and about 8″ in diameter but still thick. Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes, which will make it easier to finish rolling out, and then continue until it is a large oval with even thickness of 1/8″.

  10. Use a stamp or cookie cutter to separate the dough into small rounds.

  11. Dollop about a teaspoon of filling into the center of each round. Fold the dough over into a half moon shape and press firmly on the edge to seal. Pull both corners into the center and press them tightly so that they stick together in a tortellini shape. If your dough is not sticking together, wet a fingertip in cold water and trace lightly along the edge of the dough before pressing the bundle closed or crimping in the center to seal.

  12. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or grease the sheet before using) and fill it up with formed dumplings, making sure that there is adequate space around each one to allow for doughy expansion in the oven.

  13. Bake the dumplings for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden grown on the outside and the meat is cooked through. If you are baking two sheets at a time, don’t forget to rotate inside the oven to make sure that they brown evenly.

  14. Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic. Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed pot set over medium low heat and gently sweat out the aromatics until the onion is quite soft and a translucent golden color, about 5-7 minutes. Add the rice to the pot and stir into the onion and oil. Cook this, stirring regularly, for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is semi-translucent with a little white core. Sprinkle with the red pepper flakes.

  15. Add the water to your pot and let it simmer gently for 20-25 minutes, uncovered, or until the rice is tender and cooked through.

  16. Turn the heat down to medium low. Stir in the yogurt and cook the soup for another 10 minutes so that the flavors can meld. Make sure that the water is just at a simmer and not a boil when you add the yogurt. If necessary, turn down the heat or take the pot off the stove to cool for a few minutes because if you add the yogurt to boiling water it will separate. The soup will still taste fine, mind you, but the appearance of curdled yogurt can be a bit off-putting to some.

  17. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Another key to avoiding separation is to salt at the end rather than at the start of the process, because if you salt too soon the mixture is less likely to stay homogeneous.

  18. Add half a batch of shish barak dumplings to the soup, or however many you would like to serve each person. I would recommend at least 6 per person, but remember that I’m a greedy little ox. Again, the rest of the shish barak dumplings can be frozen or put aside for another use.

  19. Simmer the dumplings in the soup for five minutes, or until they are softened and warmed through.

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