Dushbara

Azerbaijan's tiny lamb dumplings in clear broth, small enough that a good cook fits eight or ten on a spoon, finished with dried mint and vinegar

Origin: Baku & Azerbaijan

From the journey of Wheat.

Dushbara is judged on size, and the standard is unforgiving. The dumplings are meant to be small enough that eight or ten sit on a soup spoon at once, which means squares of dough about two centimetres across, folded around a filling measured in grains rather than spoonfuls. Azerbaijani grandmothers are said to have been assessed as brides on how many they could fit in the bowl, and whether or not that was ever literally true, the standard it describes is real: a coarse dushbara is a failure however good the broth. The broth is the other half and it is deliberately austere. Lamb on the bone is simmered and skimmed until the liquid runs clear, seasoned with little beyond salt, and the dumplings are boiled in it at the last moment so the starch clouds it very slightly and no more. Anything that muddies the bowl, including boiling too hard, counts against it. What arrives at the table is a set of additions rather than a finished dish. Dried mint crushed between the palms, a splash of wine or grape vinegar sharpened with crushed garlic, and sometimes a dusting of sumac go into each bowl by the eater, and the balance of those three is a matter of personal habit. The dried mint in particular is not optional in any Azerbaijani household. The dish belongs to the whole Azerbaijani-speaking world rather than to the republic alone. It is cooked in Iranian Azerbaijan as düşbərə and in Tabriz kitchens, the border between the two having been drawn by the Russo-Persian treaties of 1813 and 1828, long after the dumpling. Its relatives run west to Turkish mantı and east to Central Asian chuchvara, and the family resemblance is obvious once the sizes are lined up.

Ingredients

Dough

  • 300 g plain flour
  • 1 egg
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 110 ml water, approximately

Filling

  • 250 g minced lamb
  • 1 small onion, grated to a pulp
  • 0.75 tsp salt
  • 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Broth

  • 700 g lamb on the bone, for the broth
  • 2.5 litres water
  • 1 onion, halved
  • 2 tsp salt, or to taste

To serve

  • 2 tsp dried mint
  • 4 tbsp wine or grape vinegar
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed

Method

  1. Make the broth first: cover the lamb bones with the water, bring to the boil, and skim the grey foam off patiently until nothing more rises.
  2. Add the halved onion and simmer, uncovered and barely bubbling, for an hour and a quarter. A rolling boil will cloud it and cannot be undone.
  3. Strain the broth through a fine sieve or muslin and season it. It should be clear enough to see the bottom of the bowl through.
  4. Make the dough: work the flour, egg, salt, and water into a firm dough, knead for ten minutes until smooth, and rest it covered for thirty minutes.
  5. Mix the minced lamb with the grated onion, salt, and pepper. Grating rather than chopping the onion keeps the filling fine enough for such small parcels.
  6. Roll the dough out as thin as you possibly can, working in batches and keeping the rest covered. You should be able to see your hand through it.
  7. Cut the sheet into 2cm squares. This is the step that decides the dish; larger squares make a different and lesser soup.
  8. Put a filling the size of a lentil on each square, fold it into a triangle, press the edges, then bring the two long points together and pinch.
  9. Lay the finished dumplings on a floured tray without touching. Working through a batch takes an hour and is normally done by more than one pair of hands.
  10. Bring the strained broth back to a gentle simmer and drop the dumplings in. Do not let it boil hard.
  11. They are ready two minutes after they rise to the surface, which is four or five minutes in all.
  12. Ladle into bowls, crush dried mint between your palms over each, and offer the garlic vinegar separately for everyone to add themselves.

Notes

Small is the whole point, and there is no way to shortcut it: 2cm squares, a lentil-sized filling, and dough rolled until it is translucent. Make them in bulk and freeze them raw on a tray, which is what Azerbaijani households do, and cook them from frozen with a minute added. Keep the broth at a bare tremble at every stage, since a hard boil clouds it and clouding is the fault everyone notices. The dried mint and the garlic vinegar go in at the table rather than in the pot, so each person sets their own balance.

The Gastrographer

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