Mhasha Vegetable Skins Stuffed With Rice, Meat, And Spices
Instructions
Initial preparation:
Peel and wash beets. Put them in a pot of water, set on high flame, and cover. When
water boils, lower flame and boil for 15 minutes. Remove beets to colander. Wash the
silq leaves very well and soak them in water. If the grape leaves are not already soak-
ing in a jar (this is how most grape leaves are available), wash them very well and soak
them in water.
Hashwa:
Drain rice so that little liquid remains and place in mixing bowl. Add meat, garlic, and
mint. Take lemon and, rather than simply squeezing it, cut it into sections and pull out
the citrus content in little bits, so that the content is shredded into fine pieces. (This
method of preparation is called mfalas in Arabic.) Take care not to include the bitter
rind or membranes of the fruit. Add the shredded lemon to the bowl with the other in-
gredients. If using tomato paste instead of beet residue, add tomato paste to the mixing
bowl If using beet residue, take the cooked beets and use a pairing knife to cut a cap
in each. Slant the knife severely toward the center of the beet while cutting around the
top. (The angle of the cut will prevent that cap from falling into the beet once it is
cored.) Core the beets, but do not leave the skin too thin there should be a thick shell
of beet remaining all around it. Finely dice the removed beet cores and add it to the
bowl. Add salt, pepper, cayenne, and oil. Mix everything together very well, but gently,
taking care not to break the rice. (Note: Before hashwa is finished, begin boiling on-
ions, see below.)
Preparation of Vegetables, Filling, and Cooking:
Prepare onions by cutting halfway into each onion, from top to bottom, but not more
than half way into the body of the onion. Put the onions in a pot of water and boil.
When the onions soften (after about 10 minutes), remove them from the water and
place them in a colander. Drop the silq and grape leaves into the boiling water for a few
seconds and then remove them to the colander with the onions.
Place the 2-3 tablespoons oil in a very wide, shallow saucepan. Distribute the oil evenly
along the bottom of the saucepan. Begin filling the onions first. Remove a layer from
one of the onions (the radius cut should allow the easy removal of a full layer) and open
the layer so that it makes an onion skin of about 5 or 6 inches long. Place approxi-
mately 1 tablespoon of hashwa on the onion skin (depending on the size of the piece),
toward one side of the skin. Tightly roll the onion skin around the hashwa, beginning
with the end on which the hashwa was placed. The result should be an egg-shaped,
stuffed onion skin. Squeeze the stuffed onion skin, to ensure that it is fairly dense and
tightly wrapped, and place it in the center of the saucepan. Repeat this process until all
the layers of skin are removed from both onions and stuffed. Array the stuffed onion
skins in the middle of the pan. Take a silq or grape leaf and lay it out on a countertop.
Place 1 tablespoon of hashwa on one end, and flatten it out slightly in a line perpendicu-
lar to the length of the leaf. Fold the very end of the two sides of the leaf over the
hashwa and then roll the leaf, beginning with the hashwa side. This method (much like
rolling a burrito) should produce an item that appears like the familiar stuffed grape
leaves from Turkey or Greece. Squeeze the stuffed leaf, to ensure that it is fairly dense
and tightly wrapped, and place it in the saucepan next to the onion skins. Repeat proc-
ess until all the silq and grape leaves are stuffed and arrayed in the saucepan surround-
ing the onion skins. Stuff the beets by removing the cap, filling the beets with hashwa,
and replacing the cap. Set the beets in the saucepan, on the outside of the stuffed
leaves. Next, cut a cap in the top of the red pimento peppers (see the explanation
with respect to beets in the Hashwa section, above) and core the peppers. Stuff them
by filling them with hashwa and replacing the cap. Place the pimentos in the saucepan,
on the outside of the stuffed leaves. Cut a similar cap in the tomato and core it, making
sure to leave a fairly thick tomato shell all around it. Chop the tomato core finely and
sprinkle the core over the other stuffed vegetable skins in the saucepan. Fill the tomato
with hashwa and place in the saucepan. Cut a slice off of the bigger end of the squash
and core the squash. Fill with hashwa, replace the end slice (to cap the filled contents)
and lay the squash gently in the saucepan. Note: It is not important for the tomato or
the squash to touch the bottom of the saucepan, but ensure that the other items, espe-
cially the onion skins and leaves, are firmly touching the bottom of the pan.
Sprinkle salt over the contents of the saucepan. Mix lemon juice, sweetened red wine,
tomato paste, and cup of water, and pour the mixture over the contents of the sauce-
pan. Use a ceramic plate that can tolerate high heat and lay the plate upside down over
the contents of the saucepan it is important to use a plate large enough to cover the
contents of the pan. (The plate serves the purpose of holding down the items so that
they dont rise in the boiling liquid and unravel.) Cover saucepan and place over me-
dium flame. When liquid boils, lower flame to low. Cook for about 45 minutes. Toward
the end of the cooking time, periodically move the saucepan around the stove burner to
ensure good distribution of heat and even scorching of the stuffed vegetables. Check to
make sure nothing is burning.
If ready to serve, cook until done. If not ready, only cook partially, leaving some liquid in
the pan. When ready to serve, add a little water, reheat, and finish cooking. When fin-
ished, gently remove each stuffed item from the pan to a serving dish, arraying every-
thing in a nice and aesthetic arrangement. Flip over the items from the pan to the serv-
ing dish, so the scorched brown side is up.
