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Home » Recipes » Middle Eastern Stuffed Zucchini (Vegetarian Koosa Mahshi)

Middle Eastern Stuffed Zucchini (Vegetarian Koosa Mahshi)

Published: Jun 19, 2019 · Modified: Jun 25, 2019 by Farah Abumaizar · 26 Comments

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A Middle Eastern classic- stuffed zucchini (and usually eggplant and bell peppers, sometimes tomatoes and even potatoes) in a fragrant tomato broth. This simmers away slowly producing tender vegetables that are stuffed with tangy herb rice filling in a flavorful tomato sauce. A staple of any Middle Eastern household!

I’m not going to sugarcoat it-this isn’t the fastest dinner you’ll ever make. However, it is much easier than I thought it would be going into it for the first time. Most of the grunt work takes place in the coring and hollowing of the vegetables. Just grab a comfortable seat, put something to listen to and get to work. You’ll reap the benefits when the time comes!

Coring the vegetables:

Koosa is the main star of this show. It’s also my favorite stuffed vegetable. I love how tender and flavorful it gets through poaching. Middle Eastern koosa is like a cross between Western zucchini and squash. This is what it looks like for anyone not familiar. Eggplant is widely stuffed alongside zucchini, but I don’t like it in this application so I usually leave it out. I love eggplant in everything else, but for some reason just not this dish! I also stuffed tomatoes, bell peppers, and potatoes. So good!

You wash the vegetables, then remove the lid of each. Using a vegetable corer, start making dents in the vegetables till you get a good sized dip to work the corer into properly. Keep scooping the inside out until you have a nice hollow shell inside each vegetable, keeping the bottom 1/4 of the vegetable intact to support the rice filling. Once you have your vegetables hollowed out, you can get started on the rice stuffing. By the way, don’t throw away the inside of your zucchini! I have an amazing recipe coming up next that uses that up.

The rice stuffing:

To make the rice stuffing, we sauté the onion, garlic and green chili, then add tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, spices and let it simmer away. You then add Egyptian rice (that has been soaked for 15-20 minutes and = rinsed until the water runs clear) as well as a lot of herbs. The herbs make the dish! You can add parsley, coriander or dill. I added one bunch of each, and I recommend this.

Let the rice simmer in the tomato sauce until it is half cooked, or you can kind of smush the grains between your finger tips then remove the rice mixture from the stove top and let it cool before stuffing the vegetables.

Stuffing the vegetables:

Use your hands! It’s the only way to do it. Once the rice mix has cooled, gently stuff the vegetables with the rice, leaving about 1/4 of each vegetable empty. This is to allow space for the rice to expand as it fully cooks. Arrange the cooked vegetables in a pan, by sort of propping the zucchini up in a circle at the edges of the pan, and placing any other vegetables in the center. See this photo for reference (This was the extra vegetables I had that wouldn’t fit in my large saucepan pictured in the title image)

Making your tomato broth:

I found the simplest way to do this is to mix together tomato paste, 2 cups of tomato puree or passata (I took 2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes and processed them in a food processor and used those), 2 chicken stock cubes that have been dissolved in 4 cups of hot water, and dried mint. Add salt to taste, mix until the consistency is even, then pour this up and around your arranged raw vegetables in the pot. The broth should cover the vegetables about 3/4 of the way up. Bring the pot of vegetables and broth to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour to an hour and a half until vegetables are cooked and tender.

Serving your masterpiece:

Serve vegetables of choice onto plates. The best way to eat this is to cut each vegetable in half and ladle extra tomato broth on top. Some people like to add a few spoonfuls of yogurt on this. HIGHLY recommend this! It’s the perfect combination.

Preparing in advance and storing:

I stuffed the vegetables and kept them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days before cooking, and they cooked up great (because these are vegetarian they are more forgiving than meat containing dishes). After cooking, store leftovers in the fridge for 2-3 days and reheat on the stovetop. This dish tastes even better the next day!

Let me know if you have any question or feedback in the comment section below and happy stuffing!

Stuffed vegetables in tomato broth in a large saucepan with a kitchen towel under the pan

Vegetarian Middle Eastern Stuffed Zucchini (Koosa Mahshi)

A traditional Levantine dish of zucchini (koosa) that's stuffed with a tomato herb rice mixture and slow cooked in a flavorful tomato broth. Must try!
5 from 7 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 300kcal
Author: Farah Abumaizar

Ingredients

For the vegetables- zucchini plus your choice of eggplant, bell peppers, potatoes and/ or tomatoes. I used:

  • 12-14 small zucchini (koosa)
  • 3 assorted bell peppers
  • 3 whole tomatoes
  • 4 potatoes

For the rice stuffing:

  • 1 onion diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 green chili pepper , seeds removed and finely diced
  • 2 heaped tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 can tomato sauce *see note
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 2 cups Egyptian rice, soaked for 20 minutes and then well strained.
  • 1 bunch each parsley, dill, and coriander, finely chopped.
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

For the tomato broth:

  • 3 heaped tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 vegetable or chicken stock cubes dissolved in 4 cups hot water (if not vegetarian, can use chicken)
  • 2 cups strained tomatoes (tomato passata OR 2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes that you puree)
  • 1 tablespoon dried mint
  • salt to taste

Instructions

For the vegetables:

  • Wash all the vegetables, then cut off the top of each and use a corer to remove the insides and hollow them out. Do it gently so as not to split the zucchini. Scrape the insides of the zucchini carefully, making room for the stuffing. Reserve the inside of the zucchini, you can store these in the fridge or freezer and use them for a lot of good recipes

To make the stuffing:

  • Heat some oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and stir for a few minutes or until onions start to turn a light golden brown. Add the garlic and the chili pepper, cook for one minute or until fragrant, then add the tomato paste and stir.
  • Add the tomato sauce and hot water, cumin, black pepper and salt, and allow mixture simmer for 10 minutes.
  • After the mixture has simmered. add the strained Egyptian rice and the chopped herbs and allow rice to cook around 10 minutes or until halfway cooked. Remove mixture from stove and allow to cool.

Stuffing the vegetables:

  • Stuff each cored vegetable with the cooled rice mixture, leaving about 1/4 of empty space since rice will expand further with cooking.
  • Line a large saucepan with slices of tomatoes and potatoes to cover the bottom. Arrange stuffed vegetables on top of this layer, trying to keep the zucchini and other vegetables upright. Stuff them in close to each other. Keep this pot aside while you prepare the broth.

For the tomato broth:

  • In a large bowl, mix together the tomato paste, the 2 cubes of stock dissolved in 4 cups of hot water, 2 cups of the pureed tomatoes or tomato passata, and dried mint. Taste to see if you need to add salt.
  • Place the saucepan with the stuffed vegetables on the stove over medium high heat, and pour the tomato broth mixture all around the vegetables, until they are nearly submerged (3/4 of the way covered with tomato broth). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low to allow vegetables to simmer for 1-1.5 hours until vegetables are tender and cooked through.
  • Portion stuffed vegetables into serving plates and lade extra tomato sauce from the saucepan. Some people like to eat this with yogurt. Enjoy!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Afnan AlJoher .
You can prepare stuffing and core zucchinis a couple days in advance. You can even stuff them with the half cooked rice, keep them in the fridge, and then cook them the next day.

Nutrition

Calories: 300kcal
Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @everylittlecrumb or tag #everylittlecrumb!

If you want some more Middle Eastern inspired dinner ideas:

Middle Eastern Roasted Leg of Lamb

Bamia (Okra stew)

Middle Eastern Yogurt Sauce

Chicken Kabsa

Did you make this? Tag @everylittlecrumb or hashtag #everylittlecrumb and I’ll share your images!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mary N says

    March 26, 2022 at 8:00 am

    Sounds so delicious, can’t wait to try it! Question: What size can of tomato sauce do you use in the rice preparation? Thank you

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      March 27, 2022 at 8:45 am

      Hi!! So each can would be 14.5 oz about!

      Reply
  2. Andreea I Popescu says

    January 31, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    5 stars
    Fantastic dish! I have only had it twice, in a restaurant, and decided its time to make it myself, particularly while I can still buy ready cored zucchinis! I followed your receipe and the result made me very happy! Thank you for sharing this receipe!

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      February 02, 2022 at 3:02 pm

      I am so happy you liked it! And how useful to get ready cored zucchini I love that!

      Reply
  3. Hanna YOUSEF says

    August 08, 2020 at 10:29 am

    5 stars
    I never thought making mahshi could be this easy! And so happy to have found a yummy recipe without meat (we never had meat in mahshi growing up in Egypt.). So thank you!
    I’ve cooked the mahshi in chicken broth without tomato as that’s what we are used to, but will try the tomato broth sometime soon.

    Next step: stuffing vine and cabbage leaves – if I ever muster up enough courage… 😉

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      August 08, 2020 at 1:22 pm

      Oh wow that’s amazing! so glad you enjoyed it Hanna, never knew that the Egyptian method doesn’t use tomato how fascinating. You know I have a great stuffed vine leave recipe on the website too, check it out!!

      Reply
  4. Bushra Yar says

    April 27, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    Yum! Made this dish yesterday, was really yummy!! I also roasted the veges for some time to brown up after cooking it

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      April 27, 2020 at 1:28 pm

      Yum bushra !! That sounds like a perfect extra step- yay thanks for letting me know!

      Reply
  5. Sara says

    April 26, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    5 stars
    I tried this today, and it was delicious!
    I’ve always wanted to try and make Mahashi but always thought it was very difficult. Your recipe is easy to follow which is great and the end results were amazing.

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      April 26, 2020 at 5:15 pm

      Aw Sara I’m so happy to hear that! And the fact that you took the time to comment- thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed the meal ❤️

      Reply
  6. Robyn says

    February 25, 2020 at 11:18 pm

    Chicken stock cubes in a vegetarian recipe??

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      February 26, 2020 at 5:43 am

      Or vegetable stock cubes ☺️

      Reply
  7. Melody says

    January 13, 2020 at 8:38 pm

    Hi. Can I add meat to the rice mixture?

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      January 13, 2020 at 9:15 pm

      Hi melody! Yes, you definitely can, that’s actually the typical preparation. You actually add the minced meat raw into the rice mix- it’ll cook with the rice! anywhere around 1 lb of ground chuck is plenty 🙂

      Reply
  8. R says

    July 05, 2019 at 2:51 pm

    Will try this tomorrow!

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      July 05, 2019 at 4:09 pm

      Plz let me know what you think!! Happy eating

      Reply
  9. raida says

    June 20, 2019 at 7:05 am

    Looks amazingly healthy. You’re getting more and more into traditional foods. Great!

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      June 21, 2019 at 7:41 am

      Thanks mama I learned from the best!

      Reply
  10. Cindy says

    June 19, 2019 at 3:03 pm

    5 stars
    What a beautiful and hearty vegetarian dish! Must admit, the pictures have me drooling again just relooking at them, just like the recipe did when it was in front of me! YUM

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      June 19, 2019 at 3:21 pm

      What a lovely comment! Thanks so much Cindy!

      Reply
  11. Diana says

    June 19, 2019 at 2:41 pm

    5 stars
    I love koosa and felfel mahshi, or koosa with stuffed vine leaves 😍 one of my all time fav Arabic meals!

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      June 19, 2019 at 2:43 pm

      Vine leaves are my absolute favorite! Need to summon up the courage to tackle those next xx

      Reply
  12. Tisha says

    June 19, 2019 at 12:25 pm

    5 stars
    Those middle eastern flavors have my mouth watering!

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      June 19, 2019 at 2:41 pm

      Thank you Tisha!

      Reply
  13. Milica Vladova says

    June 19, 2019 at 11:50 am

    5 stars
    I must admit – the Middle Eastern cuisine is so delicious and healthy! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

    Reply
    • Farah Abumaizar says

      June 19, 2019 at 11:51 am

      Thanks for the lovely comment !

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Farah! I've been cooking and baking most of my life. I love Middle Eastern food, and decadent breakfast and desserts. Welcome to my food world!

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