SCD “Kousa Mahshi”

Here is our SCD adjusted recipe for our homemade stuffed zucchini! Made by scooping out the inside of fresh zucchinis and filling it with ground meat and almond slivers, and marinated in a delicious homemade mock tamarind and apricot sauce! A traditional Syrian dish called “Kousa Mahshi,” this recipe is adapted from Poopa Dweck’s  cookbook Aromas of Aleppo. We replaced the traditional stuffing of rice and meat with meat and pine nuts or almond slivers, and replaced the tamarind in the sauce with prune baby food! 

Ingredients: 

• 12 zucchinis 
• 1 pound of chopped meat 
• 1/4 cup pine nuts or almond slivers 
• 1 small jar of prune baby food (2.5 ounces) 
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of honey 
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 7 ounces of apricots 
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:

Cut the zucchinis in half, cut the edges off and core them. Make the meat mixture by combining the chopped meat with the spices and adding the almond slivers/pine nuts. Stuff the zucchinis well. Grease an oven proof saucepan with the olive oil and place one or two layers of zucchini in the saucepan. Sauté the squash on medium high heat for a few minutes. In the meantime, combine the prune baby food with the juice of half a lemon and honey. Pour the sauce on top of the squash, bring to a boil and let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes. Add the apricots to the saucepan, cover the saucepan and place it in an oven for an hour at 350 degrees. After an hour, remove the saucepan cover and cook for another thirty minutes or until the squash has caramelized. Enjoy!!