A yummy recipe for Qoosa Mihshee/ Kousa Mahshi كوسا محشي

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Stuffed squash, courgette, marrow, mahshi, or zucchini is a dish common in the region of the former Ottoman Empire from the Balkans to the Levant and Egypt, a kind of dolma. It consists of various kinds of squash or zucchini stuffed with rice and sometimes meat and cooked on the stovetop or in the oven. The meat version is served hot, as a main course. The meatless version is considered an “olive-oil dish” and is often eaten at room temperature or warm.

The name in various languages generally means literally “stuffed squash”: Croatian: Punjene tikvice; Serbian: Punjene tikvice; Serbian Cyrillic: Пуњене тиквице; Albanian: Kungulleshka të mbushura; Macedonian: Полнети тиквички; Bulgarian: Пълнени тиквички; Greek: Γεμιστά κολοκυθάκια ; Turkish: Kabak dolması; kousa mahshi Arabic: كوسا محشي‎ / ALA-LC: kūsā maḥshī.^[3

from Wikipedia

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كوسا محشي QOOSA MIHSHEE (Stuffed Squash)

Course Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish, Vegetable

Cuisine Egypt, Levant, Middle Eastern, Ottoman, The Balkans, Turkey

Keyword Balkan, Egypt, Levant, Middle Eastern, squash, turkey, zucchini

Ingredients

• 6 3-4" long yellow or zuchini squash
• 1 cup rice -soaked. 10 minutes
• ½ lb. of minced lamb shoulder or breast
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 can medium tomatoes minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 pinches cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon pulverized hot and sweet peppers (crushed peppers)
• 1 cup hot water

Instructions

• Cut centers out of squash with narrow knife
• Soak in salt water; save centers; set aside.
• Mix meat and rice; brown pine nuts lightly -low fire.
• Pour whole mixture with butter over rice and lamb; add spices and mix well.
• Drain squash, stuff with rice mixture about ½ to ¾ of squash.
• Prepare deep cooking pan by setting lamb bones or breast across bottom of pan.
• Lay each squash on its side.
• Cook rice left over in a separate pan with squash centers.
• Add water (more than 1cup may be needed to immerse squashes) and cook over low fire for 25 minutes.
• Add tomatoes and simmer additional 10 minutes.