Dushbara

Dushbara

Region or state	Azerbaijan
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	Flour, ground meat, onions, herbs, salt, black pepper.

Dushbara (Azerbaijani: Düşbərə) is a traditional Azerbaijani dish of dumplings made of dough and filled with ground meat and condiments. It is also spelled dushbere. Typical ingredients include flour, meat, onions, herbs, salt, black pepper and tomatoes.

Very similar dishes with cognate names are found in Central Asian cuisines. These are chuchvara in Uzbek cuisine and tushbera in Tajik cuisine.

Etymology

One of the approaches is “düşbərə” comes from Turkic languages, as tosh/dash – berek. The words tosh and dash mean "filled up" and "spill out", berek means "food" (dishes made from dough).  Supporting the idea that dushbara should be added in when the water is boiling and spilling out of the saucepan. 

Ingredients

• Dough (wheat flour, egg, water)
• Mutton (boneless)
• Onions
• Vinegar
• Dried mint
• Pepper, salt

The dish is prepared either with water or meat broth. Mutton can be substituted with beef, even with chicken.

Directions

Broth is made from mutton bones; ground meat is prepared from flesh adding onions and spices. Dough is rolled, cut into small pieces (squares) and stuff with ground meat. Squares are wrapped like triangles and edges are stuck together, making shell-shaped figures. Dushbara is added into the boiling salty water and is cooked until the dumplings come to surface.

Serving

Dushbara is served sprinkled dried mint. Vinegar mixed with shredded garlic is added or served separately to taste.

One table spoon typically contain 5-8 dushbaras, however in rural areas of Absheron, cooks make it up to 20 with very small sizes. There is a joke regarding the etymology of dushbara, coming from “düş bəri” (dush bari) – fall here, asking to fill the spoon with as many dumplings as possible.

See also

• Azerbaijani cuisine

External links

• Azerbaijan National Culinary Centre
• AZ Cookbook