Kusa mahshi: Lebanese sweet and sour stuffed zucchini
This post is also available in Italiano
In a few days we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This is going to be my first Rosh Hashanah on my own away from home, and I’m very excited to be fully in charge of both of the festive dinners that this holidays entails.
On Rosh Hashanah (and many other Jewish holidays) my aunt Tania usually has my whole family over and, by popular demand, always prepares mahshi, a Lebanese dish of zucchini filled with meat and rice, served with a sweet and sour sauce made from tamarind, dried apricots, lemon and tomatoes. Since this year for the first time I will miss out on the irresistible mahshi my aut prepares, I have resolved to try my hand at the recipe and I’m pleased to report that it was a success: now we can all – yes, you too! – celebrate Rosh Hashanah in style, the Lebanese way, with a generous helping of mahshi.
This recipe calls for two special ingredients: make sure you procure very small zucchinis and tamarind paste. You can order tamarind paste on on Amazon or make it at home starting from the fruit (the little pods you see in the pictures). However, if I were you I would invest some time and money to source ready made tamarind paste, because trust me the home made version is a major project. I make all sorts of things at home, but this one is not worth the effort: there is no dish yummy enough to pay you back for the time you would spend peeling and deseeding tamarinds.
Kusa mahshi: Lebanese sweet and sour stuffed zucchini
Ingredients
- 2 kg small zucchini
- 300 g ground beef
- 1/2 glass of rice
- 3 tbsp tamarin paste
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 10 dried apricots
- 10 cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 1 scant teaspoon tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsps salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- extravirgin olive oil
Instructions
- Wash the zucchini, cut them in half and then empty them.
- Rinse the rice in cold water, drain it and mix it in a large bowl with ground beef, salt, pepper, cinnamon and a teaspoon of oil.
- Fill the zucchini with the filling, but do not overdo it, so that the filling will not overflow.
- Put 3 tablespoons of oil on the bottom of a non-stick pan, then gently place the courgettes and dried apricots in it.
- Brown the courgettes a few minutes over medium heat, then add sugar, tamarind, lemon juice, cherry tomatoes, tomato paste and salt.
- Cover the zucchini with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Some people at this point cover the zucchini with a dish, but unless your pot is disproportionately large the zucchini should stay in place, close to each other. When the water boils, lower the heat and let the zucchini cook for an hour and a half, until the sauce has thickened.