You can use beef or lamb in this recipe. It calls for our Druze Nuts & Spice Mixture, a blend of pistachios, pine nuts, onion, sumac, cardamom, black pepper, coriander, salt, almonds and cumin.
(Serves 4)
For the stuffing:
3 tbs olive oil
1 small onion, chopped fine (3/4 cup)
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbs Whole Spice Druze Nuts & Spice Mixture
1/2 lb ground beef or lamb
1/4 cup basmati rice
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbs parsley chopped fine
In a nonstick pan, heat up the oil.
Add onion and sauté for eight minutes, until slightly browned.
Add minced garlic and sauté for an additional two minutes.
Add Druze Nuts & Spice Mixture and ground beef.
Sauté the meat for three minutes and add rice, pine nuts, salt and pepper.
Gently mix all ingredients and lower the heat.
Cook on low heat for eight minutes.
Add chopped parsley and remove from heat.
For the sauce:
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf, whole
2 cups chopped onion
7 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs Whole Spice Druze Nuts & Spice Mixture
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 cups boiling water
In a nonstick pan, heat up the oil.
Add cinnamon stick and bay leaf and sauté for 30 seconds.
Add chopped onion and sauté for eight minutes, until slightly brown.
Add chopped garlic and sauté for an additional three minutes, until fragrant.
Add turmeric, salt and Druze Nuts & Spice Mixture and mix gently.
Add chopped parsley, black pepper and boiling water and simmer for four to five minutes.
Remove the cinnamon stick before pouring the sauce over the stuffed zucchini.
For the zucchini:
6 medium to large zucchini or summer squash
Cut zucchini into 2 1/2" lengths, starting at the blossom end.
Hollow the zucchini pieces, wash well and set aside.
Stuff the zucchini with the meat and rice mixture and arrange it in a small saucepan or baking dish (we used a 7"-diameter saucepan that was 4" deep).
Pour the sauce (minus cinnamon stick) over the stuffed zucchini .
Cover the sauce pan and bake at 400 degrees for one hour.
