Mahshi is the name for a wide group of dishes which include a variety of vegetables stuffed with rice, vegetables, and meat. It is similar to dolma dishes, but the name is primarily used in Arabic, North African, and Eastern Mediterranean countries.
The most common vegetables used as a container are cored zucchinis, squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, onions, and in some regions even cabbage and vine leaves. The stuffing for the vegetables typically uses rice as the base, which is usually flavored with region-specific spices.
VARIATIONS OF Mahshi
Oil-cured eggplants are a staple throughout Levantine and Middle Eastern cuisine. The dish is traditionally prepared with small-sized baby eggplants that are shortly boiled and stuffed with a flavorful mixture of roasted red peppers, walnuts, garlic, and salt.
The eggplants are then cured in olive oil and are traditionally enjoyed for breakfast, usually accompanied by labneh, vegetables, and flatbread, but they also work as a standard meze dish or a snack. Though their origin is vague, preserved eggplants are strongly associated with Syria.
Kousa mahshi is a traditional Levantine dish that consists of zucchinis that have been cored and filled with a mixture of rice and minced meat. Typically, the vegetable used for stuffing is a type of summer squash called kousa, which is paler in color and smaller than a zucchini, while the traditional choice of meat is lamb, although beef can also be used instead of it.
The rice-and-meat filling is usually flavored with samneh (clarified butter), fried onions, pine nuts, and herbs and spices such as allspice, coriander, parsley, cumin, and black pepper. Once stuffed, the zucchinis are typically simmered in water or broth (often tomato-based), while sometimes they can also be fried before the cooking process.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 3 Syrian Vegetable Dishes” list until February 13, 2025, 2,063 ratings were recorded, of which 67 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.