How to Cook Yummy Lebanese stuffed squash/zucchini

Lebanese stuffed squash/zucchini. The meat and rice mixture is flavored with garlic What is Kusa? It's an Arabic word for zucchini. It's also known as Lebanese squash.

This flavorful dish of Lebanese Koosa (zucchini) is stuffed with spiced ground beef and rice and simmered in a simple tomato broth. Stuffed squash, courgette, marrow, mahshi, or zucchini is a dish of the region of the former Ottoman Empire from the Balkans to the Levant and Egypt, a kind of dolma. In this video, Eva shows you how she makes a popular Lebanese dish called Mahshi Kousa (stuffed zucchini). You can cook Lebanese stuffed squash/zucchini using 15 ingredients and 8 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Lebanese stuffed squash/zucchini

1. Prepare 2 kg of medium sized squash/zucchini.
2. It's 450 grams of ground lean meat, uncooked.
3. Prepare 1 cup of short grain rice, uncooked.
4. It's 1 medium of tomato, grated to take off skin.
5. You need 1 medium of tomato, finely diced.
6. Prepare 2 tsp of salt, pepper, and allspice.
7. You need 2 clove of medium sized garlic, grated.
8. Prepare 2 tbsp of Mint, finely chopped.
9. It's 1 medium of lemon, juiced.
10. It's 2 tsp of vegetable oil.
11. It's 1 of Water, enough to completely cover squash..
12. You need 2 tbsp of tomato paste.
13. You need 2 clove of Garlic, grated.
14. You need 1 of salt/pepper.
15. It's 2 tbsp of lemon juice.

Every Lebanese person cooks this dish a little. This delicious stuffed zucchini recipe can be served as either a side dish or a main dish. This recipe needs a lot of adjustments. In order for the zucchini boats not to be undercooked, (ie. crunchy) they should be baking in the oven while the stuffing is prepared.

Lebanese stuffed squash/zucchini step by step

1. Clean squash and use the special utensil to core it out. This tool can be found in middle eastern shops..
2. Mix rice, meat, grated tomato, chopped tomato, lemon juice, oil, garlic, mint, and spices..
3. Stuff squash 3/4 full and tap squash on palm of hand slightly to bring down stuffing. It should not be tightly packed,keep in mind rice will soak up liquid and puff. Rice should NOT reach the top of squash, leave about an inch empty..
4. Lay stuffed squash in a layer in pot. Keep layering them flat until they are all in the pot..
5. Add water, enough to submerge the squash. Add the tomato paste, salt/pepper, lemon juice and grated garlic. These flavors mirror the flavors in the squash..
6. Cover squash with a large round glass plate and top it with a kettle filled with water. This may look funny, but it will ensure they are fully submerged and will complete cooking the rice inside all at the same time..
7. On high heat, let come to a rolling boil, bring heat down to medium and cook for 1 hour. After 1 hour, take kettle and plate off and cover with lid for 15 more min..
8. Take one out, poke it with a fork, it should be tender. Cut it up, rice should be soft. Serve with some of the sauce on top. Enjoy..

The best zucchini to use for this recipe is the small, slightly bulbous, pale green variety often sold as Lebanese zucchini. Hollow out the zucchini using a manakra, which is a tool like a long apple corer designed for this purpose; you can find them in Middle Eastern food stores. Stuff squash with mixture, do not pack tightly. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper over squash. Same stufing may be used for green peppers and small eggplants.