by Lilian Cordell
Lillian Cordell is a champion of Bukharian Jewish food, sharing the dishes of her childhood in her cookbook Miriam’s Table. Here Lillian talks us through how to make a traditional Bukharian Jewish meat dumpling, known as Dushpara.
The dumpling is served in a meat soup, made with both beef and chicken, alongside chopped tomatoes and chickpeas for a delicious and hearty meal in a bowl.
For more information on Lillian’s book, Miriam’s Table and to learn more about Bukharian food, visit: @bukharian_food
You can also watch a video of Lillian make Dushpara with her daughter Amy, as she passes the recipe down and shows you how to form these yummy dumplings at home too.
Serves 12
Ingredients
For the pasta
- 750 g plain flour
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 dessertspoon salt dissolved in 350ml warm water
- Flour for rolling.
For the filling
- 450g minced beef
- 1 large Spanish onion, minced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the soup
- ¼ of a boiler chicken
- ½ a kilo of top rib.
- 2 sticks of celery chopped
- 2 large carrots peeled and sliced
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
- 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 dessertspoon of turmeric
- 1 chicken stock cube
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 3 litres of boiled water
- 1 400 g tin of chick peas
- Chopped fresh coriander
Method
To make the soup
- In a large heavy based saucepan place the chicken and meat and pour the boiled water into the pan. Bring back to the boil and skim off the excess fat that appears. Add all the other ingredients apart from the chick peas.
- Simmer for two hours or more. Finally add the chickpeas, twenty minutes before serving.
- Garnish with fresh chopped coriander.
To make the pasta
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Create a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the beaten eggs.
- Slowly add the water and start to mix everything together to make dough. Knead a little to make a smooth and elastic consistency.
- Divide the dough up into three equal balls. Then cover the balls with a clean tea towel and let them rest!
To make the filling
- Mix by hand the minced beef, onion and salt and pepper.
- Roll out each ball on a lightly floured table, rotating in quarter turns and rolling to the thinnest possible sheet. (Do this one at a time and keep the remaining dough under a cloth to prevent it drying out)
- The method of rolling out and cutting into squares and placing a small amount of filling and closing around your left index finger and placing on a greaseproof sheet – you have to pay attention to the video.
To cook the dushpara
- Have a large pan of boiling salted water and gently place them in the pan – do this in batches.
- Bring the water back to the boil and cook until the dushpara floats to the top of the water -approx for fifteen minutes.
- Remove with a slotted spoon.
Serve in bowls with the soup poured over them and the chopped coriander.
Always delicious with a shot of Vodka!
