SHEIKH EL MAHSHI
Eggplant stuffed with lamb mince in tomato sauce
Ingredients
1.2 kg eggplants (preferably small)
neutral oil for frying
500grams coarse lamb mince
2 onions finely chopped
5 garlic cloves minced
Handful of Lebanese pine nuts
Ghee
Salt to taste
2 tsp 7 spice bharat
400gram Italian diced tomato can
600mls water (boiling)
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs pomegranate molasses
To garnish
Pomegranate seeds
Finely chopped parsley
Cut the eggplants lengthways and salt generously, place in a colander to strain whilst you work on the mince filling and the tomato sauce.
Add 1 TBS ghee to a fry pan along with the mince and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated add the onion and cook until soft add the garlic then season well with salt and 1 tsp of 7 spice bharat. Set aside.
In a smaller fry pan add 1/2 TBS ghee and fry the pine nuts until golden. Set aside
In a mixing bowl add the tomato can, tomato paste, 1 tsp 7 spice bharat, salt, pomegranate molasses and 800mls of boiling water. (It may seem like a lot of water but it will evaporate plus you need it to serve with the rice. Mix well using a whisk to make sure there are no lumps.
Bring a frying pan to high heat, add some neutral oil, place the eggplants face down. Remove them when the flesh is slightly golden and has softened.
Assemble the eggplants in a roasting tray, and using a pestle or back of a spoon press down the flesh to create room for the mince filling.
Add the mince mixture as well as the tomato sauce mixture and bake in a 180 degree oven for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the eggplants and as long as the sauce has reduced slightly and is a rich colour.
Garnish with pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and parsley and serve with traditional lebanese vermicelli rice or plain boiled rice.
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2w
I honestly cannot help myself when I see these small eggplants. I just have to buy them and make she mashi. Now, I love the name for this because mashi just means to stuff. And as you would know, we stuff many vegetables in Lebanese cuisine. And when we say sheh, we are honoring the dish as royalty amongst the other stuffed dishes, which is why we call it sheh al- mashi. Now, I did fry the eggplants mainly to soften them, but also for flavor, but you could definitely roast them in the oven if you didn’t want to fry. The tomato baking sauce is seasoned with seven spice and pomegranate molasses. And I added some chopped tomatoes as well for texture. Now, you don’t have to garnish, but I was serving this for lunch, so I went all out with the pine nuts, parsley, and fresh pomegranates. Serve it with vermicelli rice to soak up that rich sauce.
Dining and Cooking