Mashi: The Art of the Egyptian Stuffed Vegetable
Today’s recipe is a wide-spread phenomena across cultures: stuffing vegetables. I guess you can only make so much vegetable soup before you need something else to do with all your vegetables.
The term “mashi” in Arabic means stuffed. In Egypt, anything that can be cleaned out to have an empty hole is game for stuffing. Eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, peppers, pigeon, grape leaf, and cabbage leaf are all popular items to be stuffed with the traditional meat and rice mix.
From the Ottoman Empire to Egypt: The History of Dolma
Most people are familiar with the Greek and Turkish versions of stuffed vegetables, known as Dolma. Back during the Ottoman Empire days (1299–1922), many of the foods were passed along the different countries (considered provinces under the empire).
A popular dish during this time was Dolma. You can find this influence in many Eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary. What differentiates each version is the local spicing. So in this case, I will be focusing on the Egyptian twist to this.
A Childhood Introduction to Stuffed Peppers
Ever since I figured out how easy it is to make, I haven’t really stopped stuffing. My undergrad years were spent experimenting with foods, so I tried out this stuffed pepper recipe a few times.
The first time I had stuffed peppers wasn’t through my family, but instead our Polish nanny. This was back in the day when the USSR was still around and she came to Canada to make money to send back home. Her name was Elizabeth; I think I was about eight years old. She wore jean overalls a lot of the time and wore her hair up in a bun. Anyways, she once made us dinner, and it was her version of stuffed peppers. If I remember correctly, I loved them!
The Egyptian Tradition: Grape Leaves and Cairo Kindnesses
Instead of peppers, I grew up eating stuffed grape leaves. I’m still addicted to them. I’ll be making them in a few weeks. It’s the same mix, just a different stuffing process and cooking process.
When my sister, roommate, and I travelled to Egypt together for a summer, my family panicked that we were on our own for so long. While we enjoyed the good life in our little apartment in Cairo, family members would always come by to drop off some food for us because they “happened” to be in the area.
One time, my cousin’s mom walked the 15 minutes over to our place in the heat, after work. She arrived at our door with sweat pouring down her face. With a smile and a kerchief dabbing her forehead, she handed us this dish for us to eat; as if she stopped into a store to buy us candy. These were painstakingly made stuffed mini-eggplant and zucchini. I still remember how lovely they were, especially since we were eating out all the time. We devoured them.
The Secret to Great Mashi: “Phil-Phil” and Sauce
Anyways, today’s dish is the first one to make as we ease our way into stuffing vegetables. Peppers are not native to Egypt, or to Europe for that matter. They come from Mexico, as do tomatoes, and were brought over by the Spaniards. These days, they are found everywhere under the name “phil-phil”.
I cook them in a tomato sauce, similar to the one used for bamya or basilia. Many other countries in the area have their own version, usually with just a rice mixture. If you are vegetarian, you can do that too. Personally, I find it lacks substance and flavour without the meat, and it just falls all over the place when you go to eat it.
Mashi Phil-Phil: Sweet, tender peppers packed with fragrant rice and meat
Ingredients
Peppers
- 4 medium peppers any colour
Tomato sauce
- 1 onion diced
- 1 can tomato purée
- 950 ml / 4 cups water or chicken/beef stock (broth)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves garlic
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Filling
- 340 g / 1.5 cups minced beef or lamb
- 240 g / 1.5 cups rice dry weight
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
Prepare the peppers
- Wash the peppers4 medium peppers
- Cut off the tops and remove the seeds, keeping the tops aside as lids if desired.
Make the sauce
- In a large pot, sauté the diced onion over medium heat until soft.1 onion
- Add the water or stock and stir in the tomato purée until fully dissolved.1 can tomato purée, 950 ml / 4 cups water or chicken/beef stock (broth)
- Add the cinnamon stick and whole garlic cloves.1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves garlic
- Season with salt and pepper and leave to simmer gently while preparing the filling.salt, black pepper
Prepare the filling
- In a large bowl, combine the minced meat and rice.340 g / 1.5 cups minced beef or lamb, 240 g / 1.5 cups rice
- Add the chopped garlic, ground cinnamon, allspice (if using), salt and pepper.4 cloves garlic, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground allspice, salt, black pepper
- Mix thoroughly by hand until evenly combined.
Stuff and cook
- Fill each pepper about three-quarters full with the mixture. Do not overfill, as the rice will expand during cooking.
- Replace the pepper tops if using.
- Place the stuffed peppers upright in the simmering sauce. Ensure the sauce reaches close to the tops of the peppers, adding more liquid if necessary.
- Cover and cook on low heat for about 2 hours, until the meat is cooked through, the rice is tender, and the peppers are soft.
