Mahshi is one of the main platters in Egyptian banquets specially in Ramadan when friends and family gather to have iftar at sundown. It is by far the most common dish in Egypt and the Middle East along with the Koshari . It is an inexpensive meal – if you did not serve meat with it- so it is eaten by the poor and the rich in Egypt.
Mahshi is basically veggies stuffed with rice mixture. It has been always a rocket science for me, specially the stuffed grape leaves and cabbage rolls , as they require some skills in rolling them. But once you get the hang of it, you will stuff almost any veggies you like just give it a try and you will see for your self … It is an addicting process 🙂
What really signifies the mahshi rice mixture is the aroma of two or more of the cilantro,dill and parsley. It depends of what you have handy, this time I only added cilantro- my fav.- and parsley. You can add these fresh – highly preferable- or dried.
So for the rice mixture we will need:
- 1 large chopped yellow onion.
- 2 cups of uncooked rice – traditionally, short grain but you can use long as well.
- 1/4 cup of oil – preferably olive.
- 1 cup of each freshly chopped cilantro and parsley.
- 1/2 cup of freshly chopped dill.
- 1 can 16oz. of tomato sauce.
- 2Tbs of tomato paste- optional.
- 1 Tbs of dried mint – optional.
- In a sauce pan saute the onions in olive oil then add the tomato sauce and paste, stir until the paste is completely dissolved add salt, pepper and dried mint. Wait until the sauce is boiling then add the rice ,lower the heat and let the mixture for 5 minutes then turn the heat off and add the dill,cilantro and parsley – or any combination as I mentioned before- stir the mixture all together and let it cool for 15 min.
- Basically, you can use any vegetables that can be stuffed and cooked. We can use any kind of pepper, tomato, zucchini, Italian squash, long – usually called Mexican, Chinese or Japanese – eggplant, white eggplant – very very rare here-, grape leaves, cabbage leaves…. and the list goes on. Be creative, I even stuffed these hot babies… didn’t I tell you it is addicting.
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- In the Middle Ease we are used to stuffing bell pepper but here in the US bell peppers are huge and probably will take a whole cup of rice in it so instead I buy mild anaheim cut them in half and stuff each half as they have thinner skin than bell pepper.
- After stuffing your vegetables, you will need to make a bed for them in your pot as we do not want them to burn while your rice is cooking. I use some cilantro or parsley leaves you can use tomato rings, onion rings, potato rings whatever suits you.
- Add two cups of stock,broth or even water and put it on medium-high heat until the water is boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and keep it that way for about 40 minutes or until you are sure it is done. You may want to check on it every now and then to make sure that the water is still there to prevent burning.
- Some people like adding some already browned minced meat to the rice mixture and stuff then stuff the vegetables but we like it that way.
- Let it cool down for 10 minutes before serving.
I made these the other day .they came out lovely the taste was grand .ive tried many mashi recipes before but yours is far the best .thank you amira
Sylvia, this is awesome 🙂 I am so glad that you’ve liked this recipe. Which kind of veggies that you/ your family liked the most?. Thanks for the feedback dear, you made my day.
Hi amira i used pepper courgettes & tomatoes .but will now start to try other things .afraid vine is not one i like .but husband loves them so make him some .i also cooked some peppers and courgettes the other day in my slow cooker just to see the result came out beautiful lol .thanks again amira
Sylvia, it is amazing how our tastebuds differ 🙂 I seriously like that. Happy that the peppers and courgettes was good. Thank you dear for your feedback I appreciate it. I hope you’ll try other recipes and tell me how it went.
I’ve been using your Mahshi recipe for a few years now and think I’ve got it down to a fine art. My Egyptian husband tells me it rivals his mothers which I’m sure you know is a huge compliment
Stacey, wow competing with my mother in law is something I do not even think of hehehehe. I’m so proud of you, this is a huge accomplishment. So glad that your husband loved the recipe. You got me so interested, I would love to see a photo of your creation. Which veggie is your favorite? My kids looove stuffed grape leaves and zucchini.
Recette svp gâteaux merci
Hi, I made this tonight, I was a little low on coriander, and didn’t have any parsley (so I used a little bit of dry parsley), and I didn’t have any dried mint, so I think this all lead to the rice being a little tasteless, I’ll be sure to correct that next time.
I’m not sure that I got the measurement for the liquid to cook them in, is it supposed to cover the vegetables, or come up to half way?
I also used the flesh of the vegetables that I scooped out in order to make a stock, I mixed it with a cube of chicken stock and an onion, though in hindsight, this was a mistake, chicken stock alone would have been much tastier.
Hi Ali,
Mahshi is all about greens really. Dry leaves never give you the same taste or even close to fresh ones. I highly recommend not skipping them specially the fresh coriander- cilantro – it is essential. It would still be good without the green leaves but it would miss the real taste of mahshi. The liquid would be half way do not cover the vegetables with it. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, I hope next time it will be better.
I just add some cumin and coriander powder to the rice
Your stuffed peppers look divine…and a totally different spice combination than what I’ve used before. Sounds wonderful!
Thanks Liz for stopping by, may be you should try this recipe for a change and tell me what do you think? I would love to know your version too … have you ever posted it?