People assume that because I’m Syrian, I just automatically know all Syrian dishes. And that’s just not the case. For example, there’s a very popular dish called LaMaras, which is meatballs in a cherry sauce. And it comes from Halab Syria. The type of sour cherries that are used for this sauce are very specific and grown in northern Syria in Idlib. So, other parts of Syria would have never tried or tasted this dish unless they came to visit Halab or Edlib and tried it there. One of my favorite things about my brother having married a girl from a different city than us is that we get to try other Syrian dishes that we might have never been introduced to otherwise. My sister-in-law’s from Hama and she recently introduced this gustaban to us. It’s squash stuffed with rice and meat and cooked in a yogurt sauce. We do make something similar but cooked in a tomato sauce. And then we also do make she mashi which is squash stuffed with just meat and cooked in a yogurt sauce. So this is similar cooking styles and flavor profiles but a little bit different. Now before you ask me which of those two cories is better to use, let me set the record straight by saying that they both suck equally. For the filling, it’s about the same as you would make for kusa benadora. Just some soaked calro rice, beef or lamb, ghee, salt, pepper, and allspice or seven spice. You want to stuff the kusa only about 2/3 of the way up. And you don’t want to pack the filling in. You want to just tap it like this to let it sink down to the bottom, but without packing it. If you pack it in or overfill it, it might not cook all the way through. For the yogurt sauce, we mix together some homemade yogurt, cornstarch, water, and salt and whisk it off the heat first and then turn on the heat. Once you turn on the heat, you cannot stop whisking it until it comes to a boil like this. Otherwise, you risk burning the yogurt or separating the yogurt. Once the yogurt comes to a boil, go ahead and drop in the kusa. And no, you don’t need to pre-cook the kusa separately. It will cook in the yogurt as long as you just give it some time. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half for the rice to become tender. You have to make sure to stir it occasionally and top it off with water whenever necessary. Once you can see that the rice has expanded, this is a good indication that it’s about done and you can start on your garlic mint topping. Let it simmer with this flavor bomb for about five more minutes and then it’s ready to serve. Now, I added a lot more meat to rice ratio because I wanted it to be a little bit more high protein and a little less carbs, but yours wouldn’t be as red with me as mine is. I’ll list the proper measurements in the caption. Bella sushi. We have sushi at home.
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Syrian Kousa b laban
Rice & meat stuffed squash cooked in a yogurt sauce
Squash:
2 lbs Mexican/grey squash
1 cup calrose rice, soaked
3/4 lb ground beef or lamb
2 tbs ghee
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp 7spice
Yogurt:
1.5L full fat plain yogurt
2 cups cold water
2 tbs cornstarch
1 tsp salt (more to taste)
Topping:
2 tbs olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbs dried mint
Square the squash (I prefer smaller ones) until you have just a shell of the squash.
Mix together the soaked rice, ground meat, salt, pepper, 7 spice and ghee. Stuff into each squash 2/3rd of the way up, making sure not to pack it down. Stuff loosely.
In a pot OFF the heat, whisk together the yogurt, cold water, salt and cornstarch. Once combined, turn ON the heat and keep whisking until it comes to a boil.
Once it comes to a boil, drop in the stuffed squash and lower the heat. Cook for 1-1.5 hours (depending on the size of your squash). Stir occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom, and add more water as needed (make sure to add HOT or BOILING water when working with hot yogurt). Once the meat has expanded towards the entrance of the squash, check doneness by piercing through the back of the squash with a knife. It should go through, with some resistance, but not too much. Prepare the garlic mint topping by cooking the garlic and mint in the olive oil until fragrant and just beginning to brown. Add it to the yogurt sauce, mix, and cook another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and serve.
Iโve never had a Syrian dish; however, everything you make looks absolutely delicious and I will have to try to make one of your posted dishes soon ๐
This looks very similar to the zucchini based dolma that we make in Armenia
Wwooowww ๐๐๐ Looks tasty !!
they both suck equally lmaooo the way I was actually waiting for the ranking
That looks delicious. I'll have to try making both versions and plate them together.
You should really try frying the kousa shells before stuffing them, it adds a new depth to the flavor, amazing work as always, save me a plate.
A fellow Syrian from Homs. ๐
Looks good, labor of love because thatโs just too much prep haha
Do you have a home made yogurt video?
Also adding an egg to the milk also helps ๐
What what do you do with the discarded flesh of the veggies? Is it mixed in with this dish or make something else?
This is very similar to a dish we have in Greece ours is stuffed zucchini with either rice or meat depending if you make it the fasting or none fasting period and then you either cook it in a red sauce/soup or the superior soup augolemomo ( direct translation:egg lemon), i am 100% sure i would love this dish ๐คค
Cook the meat before stuffing the zucchini
Thanks for this!
Lolllll at โboth corers suck equallyโ ๐๐๐
This makes me so hungry ๐
I don't think people assume that considering no one else in the world knows how to make every dish from their own country. It sounds like you made the assumption.
If people are asking "can you make" that specifically means they don't know and they're not going to make an assumption.
If they say "i like (name of food)" they're asking you if you know how to make it without asking you.
If they say "you should make (name of food)" that means they want you to find the recipe.
What people presume is that you would be better at making a Syrian recipe than they are and you're probably better at finding the recipes online and knowing which ones are good just by reading them. Most people who have experience with cooking can do this with the style of cooking they're familiar with.
This is a "presumtion" because it's based on some knowledge and experience. An assumption is not based on anything definitive. Assumptions are always a bad thing unless you're speaking hypothetically.
Another thing people do is pretend to be surprised about new information. They act surprised when you say "i don't know" as a way of complimenting you. They're saying that they believe you're so smart and talented that they thought you would probably know.
But really they had no idea what the probability was. They're just being polite.
PLEASE use a spatula or anything else
The poor pan getting dunked
This looks so good! โค
My family usually make it with a lot more rice in the filling and it tastes really good, and its cheaper!!
Looks so good
We have sushi at home
What do you do with all the leftover juice? Drink it as soup? Or keep it for another recipe?
why put the pan inside the food like that?!
you could just spoon some liquid out as well!!!
I hope Lebanese, Jordanian and Syrian food will be more prominent in the Middle East, it seems like there are some very good flavors left behind
I just watched a lot of your shorts and I learned a lot. I hope to be able to cook some of your dishes soon. Thank you for sharing!
Lebanese make this too!
โNow before you ask me which of the corers is better to use let me set the record straight and say they both suck equallyโ ๐ญ
I wish you said (ุทุดุฉ) instead of (topping) to confuse your non-Arab viewers even more ๐
๐ค๐ป๐โค๏ธโ๐ฅ๐๐ปโ๐ป
My mom married a Palestinian man and she makes that exact dish!
Girllllll lahme bl karaz pleaseeee ๐๐ปโโ๏ธ
Mhmmm mhmmm I wish I could be a good cook like you swear ur food is to die forrrrr๐
Would like to see a vegetarian version
Iโm from halab! Iโve only had lahma bโkaraz once. Iโve never been to Syria because of the war, but we went cherry picking and my grandmother used the sour cherries to make it. It was very good