Egyptian stuffed vegetables (mahashi)featured

This “mahashi” is my favourite way to eat squash and eggplant–stuffed with spiced, herby meat and rice, then simmered in tomato sauce. 

Here I used the traditional koosa squash, also known as grey or Mexican squash, gorgeous golden zucchini, and some eggplant for good measure.  You can use whatever small squash are available. These beauties make a perfect meal that wraps veggies, meat and rice all up in one juicy package.

If you have roots in the Middle East or North Africa this is probably among your favourite comfort foods. If not, it will be once you try it.

So, let’s go!

Making mahashi

In the Middle East people stuff everything. I mean everything. Any vegetable you can think, someone’s found a way to stuff it. In this preparation I used two kinds of squash and eggplant. Many people love to make this with rice and herbs, forgoing the meat. I personally mahshi with meat.

The first, and only potentially difficult, step in this recipe is coring the veggies. If you want to make a habit of making mahshi, and you should, get yourself a zucchini corer. You can get one at a Middle Eastern grocery store or on Amazon (affiliate link). It makes the job much easier, see mine below.

Using your corer, hollow out the zucchinis and eggplants, taking care to not puncture through (but it won’t be the end of the world if you do). I was always taught to try to remove as much flesh as possible to leave a thin casing of zucchini, but I have learned that some people prefer to keep the walls of the fruit thicker. Don’t throw out the guts you’ve removed. Some people put these into the stuffing mixture or cooking broth. Or, you can simply saute them to eat at another time. I tossed mine into some pasta sauce for another day.

Once you’ve cored the veggies, give them a good sprinkling of kosher salt inside and out. This will pull moisture out.

Next, make your stuffing (hashwa in Arabic). I like to partially cook my meat before stuffing, as I prefer the texture this way. Cook up the meat with spices, add onions to soften, then mix it with your washed rice and herbs.

A word on spices and herbs: in this recipe I used some of the spices I like to use in mahshi, on a different day I may use a different combination. I encourage you to use whichever spices you like and are available to you and to not get hung up on the small details. This recipe, and most of my recipes, are flexible and are done differently in every household. So use what you have and get cooking!

If you are using eggplant, toss those into the pan you cooked the meat in to sear the skins. This will make them palatable after boiling. No need to do this with the squash, which has softer skin.

Find a pot that will hold the veggies snug and stand them up in the pot. Drop the stuffing mixture in using a small spoon or your fingers. You can wiggle it in, but resist the urge to jam it in tight. The rice needs some room to expand as it cooks. (If you have extra stuffing at the end, you can cook it separately as you would regular rice.)

Make your tomato sauce and pour it over the veggies so that they are about 3/4 of the way covered.

Bring to a boil then simmer on medium heat until cooked, about 45 minutes.

Let sit about fifteen minutes then remove to a plate, or invert onto a platter. Serve with sauce spooned over and yogurt on top!

Bel hana wel shefa! Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Mahashi (Middle Eastern stuffed vegetables)

Squash and eggplant stuffed with a savoury and herbaceous meat and rice mixture then simmered in a rich tomato sauce.

Cook Time1 hour hr

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Egyptian, Middle Eastern

Keyword: eggplant, mahshi, squash, stuffed

Author: Dahlia Morched

Equipment

• Zucchini corer https://amzn.to/3IacotM (affiliate link)
• Food processor https://amzn.to/3Xfooyc (affiliate link)

Ingredients

• assorted veggies, squash and small eggplants enough to snugly fill a 12-inch pot when standing. My pot fit about twelve zucchini and five eggplants
• kosher salt

For the stuffing (hashwa)

• 1 lb ground meat beef or lamb
• 1 small onion minced
• black and white pepper
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp coriander
• pinch cardamom
• pinch Aleppo pepper
• 1 cup medium or short grain rice washed (I recommend Egyptian rice- https://amzn.to/3DPumyQ affiliate link)
• 1 cup mixed minced fresh herbs I used half parsley, half cilantro, dill is a common choice as well
• olive oil

For the sauce

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic minced
• 5 tbsp tomato paste
• 6 cups water

Instructions

• Cut the tops of the veggies and hollow them out using a zucchini corer.
• Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and set aside. The salt will draw moisture out of the veggies.
• In a hot pan with some oil, saute ground meat with spices until only cooked half-way. Add chopped onion and allow to soften then remove from heat.
• In a small bowl, mix the meat with rice and fresh herbs.
• Shake off the water that was drawn out of your veggies.
• If using eggplant, sear the skins in the pan you cooked the meat in.
• Stand veggies upright in a pot that holds them snugly. You can tuck onion quarters, garlic or other aromatics between to fill gaps and add flavour.
• Using fingers or a small spoon, drop the stuffing in. Don't jam it in too tightly, the rice needs room to expand.

To make sauce

• Heat up some olive oil in a small sauce pan and saute garlic for a few minutes, then add tomato paste. Saute 4-5 minutes.
• Add water and plenty of salt and pepper. Taste it. It should be assertively seasoned.
• Pour sauce over the veggies until they are covered about 3/4 of the way.
• Bring to a boil, turn down to medium heat and cook covered for about 45 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes afterwards.
• Serve hot with sauce spooned over and yogurt on top.

Notes

It is difficult to give an exact number of veggies that you can fill with this amount of stuffing, as this is affected by many variables such as the size of your veggies, the manner in which they are stuffed etc. For the photographed recipes I actually had the perfect amount of stuffing for those veggies. It is common to have left over veggies or stuffing. Left over stuffing can be cooked separately as you would cook rice, for an herbed meat and rice dish. You could also freeze excess for later use. 

Finely minced tomato can also be added to the stuffing.