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
Dolma (Turkish for “stuffed”) is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, and common in modern national cuisines of regions and countries that once were part of the Ottoman Empire. Some types of dolma are made with whol ...
. It consists of various kinds of
squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
or
zucchini
The zucchini (; plural: zucchini or zucchinis), courgette (; plural: courgettes) or baby marrow (''Cucurbita pepo'') is a summer squash, a vining herbaceous plant whose fruit are harvested when their immature seeds and epicarp (rind) are stil ...
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.
Preparation
The placenta and seeds of larger, shorter, cylindrical immature
squashes are pulled off, and the further proceeding is similar as for
punjene paprike or
sarma.
Often, punjene tikvice (stuffed squashes) and punjene paprike (stuffed peppers) are made together, as a mixed dish.
[in Croatian]
Name
The name in various languages generally means literally "stuffed squash": hr, Punjene tikvice; sr, Punjene tikvice; sr-cyr, Пуњене тиквице; al, Kungulleshka të mbushura; mk, Полнети тиквички; bg, Пълнени тиквички; el, Γεμιστά κολοκυθάκια ; tr, Kabak dolması; ''kousa mahshi'' ar, كوسا محشي /
ALA-LC
ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script.
Applications
The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...
: ''kūsā maḥshī''.
File:Kousa Mahshi.jpg, ''Kousa mahshi'', stuffed zucchini
Variants
In the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
, this dish is flavoured with
mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES g ...
and
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...
. In
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
, the flowers of the marrow are also stuffed.
The cultivar is called 'Cousa' in Robinson and Decker-Walters (1997)
[Robinson and Decker-Walters (1997). ''Cucurbits''.] p. 77: "Some summer squash cultivars, e.g. the vegetable marrows (''Cucurbita pepo'') are consumed when almost mature. In the Middle East, nearly mature fruits of 'Cousa' are stuffed with meat and other ingredients, then baked".
See also
*
List of squash and pumpkin dishes
This is a list of notable squash and pumpkin dishes that are prepared using squash and pumpkin as a primary ingredient. Pumpkin is a squash cultivar.
Squash and pumpkin dishes and foods
* ''Hobak-juk'' – a Korean variety of '' juk'' (porridg ...
*
List of stuffed dishes
This is a list of stuffed dishes, comprising dishes and foods that are prepared with various fillings and stuffings. Some dishes are not actually stuffed; the added ingredients are simply spread atop the base food, as one cannot truly stuff an oy ...
*
Sheikh al-mahshi
Sheikh al-mahshi (شيخ المحشي 'the Chief of fillings'), sheikh el mahshi or shexmahshi (Kurdish) is a popular dish in the Middle East consisting of eggplant or zucchini stuffed with minced lamb meat and nuts, bathed in a yogurt sauce (the ...
, zucchini stuffed with minced lamb meat and pine nuts in yogurt sauce
References
{{Squashes and pumpkins
Arab cuisine
Jordanian cuisine
Lebanese cuisine
Levantine cuisine
Ottoman cuisine
Palestinian cuisine
Squash and pumpkin dishes
Stuffed vegetable dishes
Syrian cuisine
Balkan cuisine
Israeli cuisine