Stuffed Zucchini & Eggplant

Today is the start of a very interesting event taking place during the month of April. It is Arab Food month.
This will be my first time to participate in such an event and I’m excited about it.
I am a big fan of our traditional cuisine. Actually, part of why I share my recipes is to preserve my family’s old recipes for the coming generations. 

People nowadays are converting to easy fast food, they try diets that some of them eliminate a lot of traditional food.
Mediterranean cuisine is actually healthy and balanced. We have protein, vegetables and carbs all in one plate. The key is the portions we eat. 
Not everything promoted in media is entirely true. You can have a balanced diet within our Mediterranean cuisine.

The first week of #Aprilsiforarabfood will be about stuffed food.
I am traveling today on vacation for a couple of days, so I won’t be able to join the meeting today in Dubai. But I will share with you this “koussa  W batenjen mahshi“ (in other words Stuffed Zucchini and Eggplant). 

Ingredients:

Serving: 4 – 5 persons

Prep time : 45 mins

Cooking time : 45 – 55 mins

Filling :

• 1.2 kg zucchini (marrow)
• 3 small eggplant
• 330 g minced beef
• 1.5 tsp salt for stuffing
• 1.5 cups rice soaked and rinsed
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp safflower
• 1 TBsp fried pine nuts.*

Sauce:

• 1 L tomato puree **
• 1.5 tsp salt for the sauce
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3-4 cups water
• 2 garlic cloves minced

Instructions:

1. We start by coring the zucchinis : Using a corer you need to remove the core of the marrow leaving around 1 cm of thickness. Same goes for the eggplants of course. ***
2. For the filling : add minced beef with the rice that is previously soaked at least half an hour, washed and drained. 
3. Add the pepper and 1.5 tsp salt then add the fried pine nuts , and the safflower. Mix very well until all ingredients are well incorporated
4. Take a small quantity of the filling and shape it like fingers to make it easier for you to stuff the zucchini. ( The quantity of the filling inside is something that you decide some people like super stuffed others don’t so really it is up to you.)
5. Tap on table to make sure the filling goes down to the bottom. Always leave 1/2 cm because the rice will get bigger in volume once cooked.
6. As for the eggplants,the filling should be always less because the skin is thinner therefore it will cook faster and might explode if it was overfilled
7. For the tomato sauce: Start by frying the onions and green pepper with some oil.
8. Once the onions are cooked add the tomato puree I use the Pomi organic puree.
9. Add water I like to add them first to the bottle of the tomato puree to make sure nothing is left in the bottle.
10. Let it boil then turn off the heat . Using a hand mixer blend the sauce ( this step is actually optional) .Add 1.5 tsp salt pepper and the minced garlic
11. Now put the sauce back on medium high heat and add the zucchinis and eggplants.
12. Cover it and let it boil for 10 mins.
13. Then uncover the pot and let the zucchinis cook in the boiling sauce for 10-15 min it depends really on the size of the zucchinis. Make sure to keep an eye on them and always stir so all the zucchinis cook evenly.****

Notes :

*If you don’t want to use pine nuts you need to add 2TBsp oil or butter to the filling

**I use “Pomi” but you can use whole tomatoes around 3 roughly chopped .

***Do not discard the core of the zucchini I use them in many different recipes you can check my Instagram page to see how I use them .

****If you are not going to serve the zucchinis immediately remove the zucchinis and the eggplants from the sauce until serving time so you don’t take the risk of over cooking.