Zucchini and grape leaves are stuffed with rice, ground beef or lamb and spices, cooked together in a meat broth and finished with a splash of lemon juice; I have provided you with a step-by-step video tutorial for foolproof, and absolutely delectable outcome.
If there is one food I could eat everyday without getting bored it would have to be mahshi kousa wa warak enab, everyone in every age group loves stuffed zucchini and grape leaves, this dish bring back memories, fill the kitchen with the best aromas, and make any day better, comfort food at its best, if you have never had stuffed zucchini and grape leaves, you’ve got to put it on your to do list, it’s great to keep in your cooking repertoire, a celebratory get together dish.
Zucchini and grape leaves are stuffed with rice, ground beef or lamb and spices, cooked together in a meat broth and finished with a splash of lemon juice; I have provided you with a step-by-step video tutorial for foolproof, and absolutely delectable outcome.
Ingredients Needed:
- Mexican Grey Squash: Use the yellow squash variety if you can find, but zucchini should work too.
- Minced Meat: Use beef or lamb
- Short-Grain Rice: I used Arborio rice, any short-grain variety works well here.
- Fresh or Grape Leaves in Brine: Use tender grape leaves for best results
- Beef Oxtail or Lamb shops or Lamb Neck on the Bone: Meat on the bone add so much flavor to the kousa wa warak enab.
- Sevenspice: You can use allspice as a substitute.
- Black Pepper: Use freshly grated black pepper.
- Salt, obviously to balance flavors.
- Sumac, Optional
- Water
Begin by selecting the right type of zucchini. Try to put your hands on small-medium Lebanese zucchini no longer than 7 inches/17 cm, and sometimes called Mexican grey squash, their pale green skin is smooth and shiny, are ideal to make stuffed kousa mahshi; they taste great and hold their shape without getting soggy while cooking.
How to prepare the filling?
When it comes to meat, lamb is my favorite, but beef is commonly used as well. It is advisable to use short-grain rice or medium grain rice for a stickier filling, the most common used is the Egyption rice, Italian arborio or jasmine rice. In a colander, rinse the rice under running cold water and rub with your hands to remove the excess starch as you can and drain. Mix together the rice with the minced meat and oil, and season with salt, white pepper, black pepper, sumac (optional) and sevenspice. Now your filling is ready.
How to treat the zucchini?
- You need to hollow out the zucchini with a vegetable corer (mankara), a utensil used in the Middle East to core up the pulps of some vegetables like zucchini and eggplants. Wash, scrub and dry the zucchini, cut off the stem tips and gently hollow out the center with the vegetable corer.
- Try to hollow just like you are carving a pumpkin, hollow out the center leaving 1/3 inch/ ¾ cm, around the interior wall and maybe more if you mange doing that without poking the zucchini. It is simple, but still it is a skill that needs a bit of practice to master it.
- Using your finger, stuff each zucchini with the rice and meat filling, leave about ¼ inch or ½ cm of space at top, allowing for the expansion of the rice as it cooks. It is important not to over stuff.
How to treat the grap leaves?
- Blanch the grape leaves: Blanch the fresh grape leaves in boiling water until they wilt and turn darker green. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to cool down completely. Snip off the stems. If the grape leaves are in brine rinse and drain.
- Stuff and roll the grape leaves: Using a sharp knife, trim the stem (if it is still on the leaf) and discard. Place a grape leaf on a flat surface, with veiny side up, place one teaspoon of the meat*rice filling across the leaf from the bottom to top, repeat for all the leaves.
To put together, and cook in one pot!
- In a large pot (make sure it accommodates the zucchini, rolled grape leaves and meat chops), heat sunflower oil or ghee and sauté the meat chops for 3 minutes per side, season with salt and remove the pot off the stove, arrange the grape leaves neatly over the meat chops, and place the zucchini on top. Add water to the pot, almost covering the grape leaves and zucchini, season with salt and add one tablespoon of ghee or butter.
- Return the pot to the stove top, upon boiling reduce heat to low, cover up and let it simmer for two hours until fully cooked.
If you are a regular reader, you must have encountered our mashi recipes, the word mahshi refers to anything stuffed:
- Malfouf mahshi
- Vegetarian Stuffed Grape Leaves
- Stuffed Zucchini and Eggplants (Mahshi Kousa wa Warak Inab)
- Sheik Al Mahshi
- Kousa Bil Laban
- Kousa Ablama
Stuffed Zucchini and Grape Leaves
Description
Ingredients
- 2 kg/ 4 lb 8 oz small zucchini (use the Mexican grey squash for best results)
- 500 grams fresh or brined grape leaves, try to put your hands on tender grape leaves
- 2 cups short-grain rice
- 500 grams / 1 lb 2 oz mined beef or lamb
- 1 teaspoon sevenspice
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sumac optional
- Salt to taste to the filling and the whole pot
- 4 tablespoons ghee or olive oil or sunflower oil for the filling
- 1/3 cup ghee/ olive oil/ sunflower oil to saute the meat chops
- 500 grams / 1lb 2 oz meat chops beef oxtail, lamb chops or neck chops on the bone
- 1 or 2 lemons, depending how lemony you like your kousa wa warak enab.
Instructions
- Begin by selecting the right type of zucchini. Try to put your hands on small-medium Lebanese zucchini no longer than 7 inches/17 cm, and sometimes called Mexican grey squash, their pale green skin is smooth and shiny, are ideal to make stuffed kousa mahshi; they taste great and hold their shape without getting soggy while cooking.
- To make the meat and rice filling: In a colander, rinse the rice under running cold water and rub with your hands to remove the excess starch as you can and drain. Mix together the rice with the minced meat and ghee, and season with salt, sevenspice, black pepper and sumac (optional). Now your filling is ready.
- Blanch the grape leaves: Blanch the fresh grape or brined leaves in boiling water until they wilt and turn darker green. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to cool down completely.
- Stuff and roll the grape leaves: Using a sharp knife, trim the stem (if it is still on the leaf) and discard. Place a grape leaf on a flat surface, with veiny side up, place one teaspoon of the meat-rice filling across the leaf from the bottom to top, repeat for all the leaves.
- The zucchini: Wash, scrub and dry the zucchini, cut off the stem tips and gently hollow out the center with the vegetable corer. Try to hollow just like you are carving a pumpkin, hollow out the center leaving 1/3 inch/ ¾ cm, around the interior wall and maybe more if you mange doing that without poking the zucchini. It is simple, but still it is a skill that needs a bit of practice to master it.
- Using your finger, stuff each zucchini with the rice and meat filling, leave about ¼ inch or ½ cm of space at top, allowing for the expansion of the rice as it cooks. It is important not to over stuff.
- To put together: In a large pot (make sure it accommodates the zucchini, rolled grape leaves and meat chops), heat ghee and sauté the meat chops for 3 minutes per side, season with salt and remove the pot off the stove, arrange the grape leaves neatly over the meat chops, and place the zucchini on top. Add water to the pot, almost covering the grape leaves and zucchini, season with salt and add one tablespoon of ghee or butter.
- Return the pot to the stove top, upon boiling reduce heat to low, cover up and let it simmer for two hours until fully cooked.
- Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice and serve.
- You have two ways to present the dish, 1- Drain the excess liquid in the pot, by tilting it in a bowl. Place a large serving platter over the pot and flip the pot so the mahshi is on the platter. Or alternatively, Arrange the rolled grape leaves and the lamb chops on a large serving plate one roll at a time. How delectable!
