← Nouns Cooking · Lebanese & Turkish

Ingredients

• 8 small courgettes (about 1.2 kg), pale Lebanese kousa if you can find them
• 150 g medium- or long-grain rice, rinsed
• 300 g beef or lamb mince
• 1 Tomato, finely diced
• 1 tsp Allspice
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 3 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 400 g passata or blended tinned tomatoes
• 900 ml hot water
• 4 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp Dried mint
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ Lemon, juiced (optional)

Method

1. Cut the stalk ends off the courgettes. With a courgette corer or a long, thin spoon, hollow out each one from the cut end, leaving walls about 5 mm thick and keeping the other end closed.
2. Mix the rice, mince, diced tomato, spices, salt, pepper and oil with your hands. Loosely fill each courgette about three-quarters full; the rice swells as it cooks, so do not pack it.
3. In a wide pot, stir the tomato paste and passata into the hot water with the salt. Bring to the boil, then lay the courgettes in snugly. The liquid should almost cover them; add more water if needed.
4. Put a small heatproof plate on top to keep them submerged, cover and simmer gently for 45–50 min, until a courgette is soft when pierced and the rice inside is fully tender.
5. Stir the garlic and dried mint (and lemon juice, if using) into the broth and simmer for 5 min more. Serve the courgettes in shallow bowls with plenty of broth.

Tips

• Don't waste the scooped-out flesh: fry it with onion and garlic, then scramble in eggs for a quick lunch.
• Leftover stuffing can be rolled into little meatballs and cooked in the pot alongside.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Simply Lebanese Maureen Abood Feel Good Foodie