Kousa Mehshi

• Soak rice for an hour, strain and place to the side. This is not a crucial step but I always like to do it
• Heat the olive oil in a pan, add mince meat and with your wooden spoon break it up until nicely browned
• Once browned, add the salt, garamassala, cinnamon and allspice, stir and turn off heat
• Add the rice to the meat and spice mix and stir through (being careful not the break the rice granules) until well combined and you can see the rice has taken on the flavours in the pan
• Leave aside to cool down and begin preparing the zucchini
• Carefully cut just under the stalk the top ends of the zucchini and cut the small round end at the bottom
• Rinse each one under water rubbing the skin with your hands until you can feel the skin is clean and smooth. If there are any sap residue or dirt stuck on the zuchinni use a serrated knife and gently scrape off. I like to run a serrated knife across the zucchinis anyhow as it gives them a beautiful pattern. A lovely stripe that is my mother-in-laws signature, and one I am proud to carry on
• Now that the zucchinis are ready to be cored, use a Mankara (zucchini corer) and carefully remove the insides of the zucchini being ever so careful not to puncture the skin. The aim when coring is to get an even thickness of skin all the way around, this comes with practise. So long as the skin isn’t punctured and you’ve removed enough of the inside of the zucchini to fill with stuffing then you’ve done a great job. Give yourself a pat on the back.
• For a demonstration on how to core zuchinni please visit the link to the video on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nySc1wgM5GI
• By now your stuffing should have cooled down enough to allow handling. Pick up the stuffing with your hand and stuff each zucchini. The idea is not to tightly pack the zuchini, gently pushing the stuffing down as you go with your baby finger leaving approximately 1 ½ cm of the neck clear to allow for rice expansion during the cooking process.
• If you find there is extra stuffing leftover, you can grab a capsicum or eggplant from the fridge core and stuff them and add them to your pot. I do this often and it always adds extra flavours to the dish. Other times I scatter the left over stuffing in the pot along with the tomato puree and water and it adds a lovely flavour and thickness to the stock.
• Once all your zucchinis have been stuffed place them in a large pot and add the passata or tomato puree, water and stock, to cover the zucchinis by about a centimetre, So long as the top layer of zuchinnis  are getting enough broth into the openings (to cook the rice).
• Place a cover and bring to the boil, then reduce to simmer for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of the zucchini.
• You can always take one out to test, the rice should be cooked nicely throughout.

My family love it when I serve this with Natural Greek Yoghurt and Lebanese Bread.

I normally use a soup bowl  to serve, add 2 or 3 stuffed Zuchinnis  and pour some broth over the top. It is absolutely delicious.