| Stuffed squash | |
| Alternate Name: | Stuffed zucchini |
| Region: | the former Ottoman domain: the Balkans, Egypt, Turkey, and the Levant |
| National Cuisine: | Ottoman cuisine |
| Type: | Dolma |
| Course: | Main course |
| Served: | Hot |
| Minor Ingredient: | onions, spices, tomato sauce |
| Similar Dish: | Stuffed peppers |
Stuffed squash, courgette, marrow, mahshi, or zucchini is a dish common in the region of the former Ottoman Empire from the Balkans to the Levant and Egypt, a kind of dolma. It consists of various kinds of squash or zucchini stuffed with rice and sometimes meat and cooked on the stovetop or in the oven. The meat version is served hot, as a main course. The meatless version is considered an "olive-oil dish" and is often eaten at room temperature or warm.
The placenta and seeds of larger, shorter, cylindrical immature squashes are pulled off, and the further proceeding is similar as for punjene paprike or sarma.[1] Often, punjene tikvice (stuffed squashes) and punjene paprike (stuffed peppers) are made together, as a mixed dish.[2]
The name in various languages generally means literally "stuffed squash": Croatian: Punjene tikvice; Serbian: Punjene tikvice; Serbian: Пуњене тиквице; Kungulleshka të mbushura; Macedonian: Полнети тиквички; Bulgarian: Пълнени тиквички; Greek, Modern (1453-);: Γεμιστά κολοκυθάκια ; Turkish: Kabak dolması; kousa mahshi Arabic: كوسا محشي / ALA-LC: kūsā maḥshī.[3], kishu memouleh Hebrew: קישוא ממולא.
In the Levant, this dish is flavoured with mint and garlic. In Cyprus, the flowers of the marrow are also stuffed.[4]
The cultivar is called 'Cousa' in Robinson and Decker-Walters (1997)[5] p. 77: "Some summer squash cultivars, e.g. the vegetable marrows (Cucurbita pepo) are consumed when almost mature. In the Middle East, nearly mature fruits of 'Cousa' are stuffed with meat and other ingredients, then baked".
In Canada, stuffed squash is often prepared with tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce as well as with melted cheese on top.[6]