Stuffed Onions

Name: Stuffed Onions (Bassal Mahshi)
Cuisine: Egyptian
Ingredients: 8 large yellow onions, more if needed; 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) vegetable stock; 1 tbsp tomato purée (paste); 1 tbsp tomato purée (paste); 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 yellow onion, diced; 2 tomatoes, grated; 1 cinnamon stick; 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses; 250 g (9 oz) short grain rice; A bunch of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped (about 20 g/¾ oz); A bunch of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped (about 20 g/¾ oz); A bunch of parsley, finely chopped (about 20 g/¾ oz); A bunch of mint, finely chopped (about 20 g/¾ oz); A bunch of dill, finely chopped (about 20 g/¾ oz); 1 tsp dried mint; Sea salt and ground black pepper; Sea salt and ground black pepper

Bassal Mahshi

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Egypt

By Suzanne Zeidy and Rawah Badrawi

Published 2026

About

The Mansour family in Cairo are famous for their fantastic food and one of their signature dishes is stuffed onions. Fatma Roushdy, the Alexandrian matriarch of the family, brought this recipe with her to Cairo. The dish has roots in Marsa Matruh, drawing from culinary traditions in nearby Libya where vegetables are stuffed with meat or rice and spiked with dried mint.

Ingredients

Africa
Egypt
Cairo
Main course
Side dish
Gluten-free
Vegan
Mediterranean

Ingredients

Method