Name: Stuffed Summer Vegetables (Mahshi)
Yield: Serves 10–12
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 6 pounds (about 3 kilograms) assorted vegetables for stuffing: koosa squash (also known as grey zucchini or magda squash), bell peppers, baby eggplants, firm tomatoes, or Middle Eastern cucumbers; ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom; 2–3 tomatoes (cut to size for plugging vegetables); 1½ teaspoons ground allspice; 1 packed cup (25 grams) parsley, finely chopped; 2 hot green chiles, chopped; 3½ teaspoons salt; 9 ounces (260 milliliters) tomato paste, diluted in 6 cups (1½ liters) boiling water; 1 teaspoon black pepper; ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg; 5 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 cups (390 grams) medium-grain rice or #3 grade bulgur; 2 teaspoon dried mint; 2 tomatoes, very finely diced; ½ cup (120 milliliters) extra virgin olive oil; 1 onion, very finely chopped; ½ pound (250 grams) lean ground beef

Preparation info

Serves
10–12

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Gaza Kitchen

By Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt

Published 2021

About

This is a dish best made in company. Coring vegetables can be onerous if done alone but is downright festive when many hands are at work together.

Some prefer to substitute medium-grain bulgur for the rice in this classic dish. A mix of the two grains can also be used.

Choose the smallest squashes available and very taut eggplants. Do not be tempted to substitute dark-green zucchini for the pale-skinned koosa: they tend to get too soft when boiled.