Lebanese Zucchini in Yogurt

There are many many different ways to make this dish, this is just my spin on it, and you all know I like to keep things as authentic as possible but feel free to share your ideas. Also I will definitey try the different recipes in the future to see how they taste.

Lebanese Kousa BLaban (Zucchini in Yogurt)

- A couple of small lebanese zucchinis, tops removed and hollowed out

For the filling: 

Ground lamb

Rice (I use calarose)

Salt and pepper

Arabic 7 spice or a dash of allspice

You can either fry the lamb and mix it with the raw or cooked rice or you can use raw lamb as I did stuffing the zucchinis lightly.

Add the zucchinis to a large pot, laying on their sides and cover with hot water or stock. Cook until tender and rice is cooked through. Remove the zucchinis gently at this point from the liquid and set aside.

To create the Yogurt sauce mix Plain balkan yogurt with water and a tbsp of corn starch, whisk it well and cook in a saucepan bringing up to a boil.

For the topping: 

Heat some olive oil or butter in a small saucepan and add pine nuts toasting until nice and golden. Remove them from the oil and add a clove of grated or ground garlic, lightly cooking the garlic until fragrant.

To serve: Pour the yogurt sauce over the zucchinis and sprinkle with the pine nuts.

Enjoy!

داوود باشا باللبن Dawud Pasha

Lamb meatballs

1 lb ground lamb

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1 clove garlic

1 small onion or 1/4 large onion

Dash of Worstershire sauce or lemon juice

1 tsp Mint (fresh or dried)

1/2 tsp arabic 7 spice (recipe here)

lemon zest (optional)

Oil for frying

Grind or chop the onion and garlic very fine, add to the rest of the ingredients and blend.

Make small meatballs the size of an egg yolk.

Fry the meatballs in some oil until they are browned, remove and set them aside.

Most arabic recipes ask to fry the meatball, simmer in tomato sauce and then bake, but I really don't like to cook the heck out of lamb, but in the middle east we are used to killing our food twice and everyone I know takes their meat well done.

You can adjust the doneness of the meat according to your taste but I found that simply browning them on all sides yields a perfect meatball that is still juicy in the middle.

Traditionally in the recipe Dawud Pasha the meatballs are served in a tomato sauce, sometimes it even contains some pieces of potato that were simmered in the sauce earlier but because I have a mild tomato allergy and have eaten enough tomato this week I opted for a yogurt sauce (below)

Yogurt sauce:

Blend yogurt and heat gently, do not let it split. Pour over the meatballs.

Butter sauce:

Heat about 1 tbsp butter and grate 1 small clove of garlic in it, allow it to become fragrant then remove from heat, sprinkle some paprika in the oil and pour over the yogurt.

Garnish:

Brown some pine nuts and sprinkle over along with chopped parsley.

Serve with white rice and salad, enjoy!