Kousa Mahshi Lebanese Stuffed Zucchini

Kousa mahshi, Lebanese stuffed zucchini, is spiced minced meat and rice stuffed into small zucchini squash, then simmered in a tomato sauce. I consider comfort food because it has always given me a sense of home. This meal uses simple ingredients and brings incredible flavor.

Check out this mahshi sliced kousa squash casserole recipe if you would like kousa mahshi flavor without the zucchini coring or this Italian meatball stuffed zucchini for an Italian-inspired stuffed zucchini in tomato sauce.

There are different kinds of stuffed vegetables (especially zucchinis) or mahshi known across the Arab world. In Lebanon, our version consists of cored zucchinis stuffed with a mix of short-grain rice, ghee/butter, spices, and minced meat.

What I Love About This Recipe

The best thing about this recipe is that it requires simple ingredients that come together so quickly. Despite the fact that a lot of people think the process of making mahshi is long and tedious when you break it down as we've done in this recipe, it becomes so much easier and the result is delicious stuffed zucchinis.

Ingredient Notes

• Zucchini: Zucchini is the main ingredient for kousa mahshi, and in the U.S. it's also known as calabaza squash. Small to medium sized zucchini are better than the larger ones. Coring is quite a difficult task (learned that the hard way), so you could opt to buy cored zucchini. If that's not available where you live, I recommend watching how to core zucchini. That's how I learned 🙂 And remember, practice makes perfect.
• Short grain rice: This is known as Egyptian rice or Calrose rice. Make sure you use this kind and not long grain because short grain rice binds together better.
• Minced meat: Beef, lamb or a mix of both works great. I prefer minced meat with about 80-90% lean.
• Butter: Use butter in the minced meat and rice stuffing. Ghee is an appropriate substitute.
• Spices: Seven spices, a dash of ground cinnamon, some white pepper and black pepper.
• Tomatoes: Fresh tomatoes chopped into chunks.
• Tomato paste: This is used to add flavor to the water that we cook the stuffed zucchinis in.
• Bay leaves and salt

How To Make Mahshi Kousa

Wash the zucchinis and core them. Rinse the rice and drain. Then, place it in a glass bowl. Add the minced meat to the rice. Top the rice and minced meat with spices and salt.

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Melt the butter and add it to the rice/meat mixture. Use your hands or a spoon to mix the stuffing ingredients really well.

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Start stuffing each cored zucchini (until you reach ¾ to its opening). Close each piece with a tomato chunk and place it in a large cooking pot. Once all the stuffed zucchinis are in the pot, add enough water to cover them. Bring the stuffed zucchinis to a boil for around 10-15 minutes.

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Mix the tomato paste with a little bit of water. Add the tomato paste to the pot with 2 bay leaves. Season with salt to taste. Simmer the stuffed zucchinis on low to medium heat for about 30-45 minutes. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Tips and Tricks

• Don't overstuff the cored zucchini: This is very important! Too much stuffing means the zucchinis could come apart during the cooking process. Stuff the zucchini about ¾ of the way full.
• Close each stuffed zucchini with a chunk of tomato: Learned this from teta and it's a life saver. The tomato blocks the stuffing from coming out or spilling over while cooking.
• To get the perfect Lebanese style koussa mahshi, cook the stuffed zucchinis in water first, then add the tomato paste mixed with a bit more water. This ensures that the stuffing is fully cooked without being over-flavored.

Variations and Substitutions

• Chicken stuffed koussa mahshi: In this variation, minced chicken is used in place of minced meat. I tried it once and it tastes good but I personally prefer the meat version.
• Vegetable stuffed kousa mahshi: Here we completely eliminate the meat and use a blend of veggies & rice to stuff the zucchini.
• Kousa mahshi b laban: This variation is one of my favorites. The stuffed zucchinis are cooked in a yogurt/dried mint mixture rather than in tomato paste and water.
• Batenjen/ batata mahshi: If you can't find zucchini you can create this exact same recipe using cored eggplants or even cored potatoes.

What To Do With Zucchini Cores

This Lebanese kousa mahshi recipe calls for coring around 4 pounds of zucchini so you're going to have a lot of zucchini cores. To avoid food waste you can use the zucchini cores to make a Lebanese frittata: Simply mix the cores with eggs, some parsley and a few spices. Then, fry the egg frittata in oil.

You can also use the cores to create a dip or add it to a soup. I know friends who use it to thicken up baba ghanoush.

Serving Ideas

• A cup of cold laban (yogurt) combined with minced garlic and a touch of dried mint.
• In several Lebanese households, this dish is never served without pita bread. How does that work you may ask? Well basically, this is because many people like to eat stuffed zucchinis in a wrap so they take a piece of pita, wrap it around a mahshi piece and enjoy.
• I know people who always serve kousa mahshi alongside a variety of Lebanese pickled vegetables including cucumbers, radishes, and carrots.
• Where I come from in North Lebanon, we always have 3-4 green olives served alongside koussa mahshi. It's sort of a tradition to end this meal with some pita bread and olives.

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