Mehshi is the Arabic word for stuffed vegetables, and it is what I always asked my grandmother to prepare for us whenever we went to visit on Sundays. It is also what I used to ask my mother to prepare for me whenever I visited her in Lebanon, although now that she is 91, I spare her the trouble and prepare it myself having made her write down all her recipes for my first book.
Like baklava, mehshi is the umbrella term for all kinds of different types of stuffed vegetables, those with meat and rice and those without meat, those with tomatoes added to the meat and rice or those with only meat and pine nuts. There are many variations, both with the stuffings and with the broth they are cooked in. My mother never added fresh tomatoes or tomato paste to the broth while others do. Some layer greengages in between the stuffed vine leaves when they are still very sour while others add okra to the stuffed marrows.
Then, you have the choice of vegetables, ranging from cabbage to vine and Swiss chard leaves to courgettes or zucchini, aubergines or eggplants, peppers or the one in the picture above (one of my favourites), which is 2are3 in Arabic, or marrow in English. The latter are not so easy to find in the west except in some Middle Eastern stores when in season; and I was lucky enough to find some the other day in London, at Green Valley, possibly the best stocked Middle Eastern store in Central London. So, I bought some to test the recipe which I am sharing with you here.
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