🥒 Kousa bil laban (stuffed zucchini in yogurt)

Name: Kousa bil laban (stuffed zucchini in yogurt)
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Levant · Middle East
Ingredients: 12 small zucchini; 150 g short-grain rice, rinsed; 250 g ground lamb; 1 tsp seven-spice, salt and pepper; 1 kg plain yogurt; 1 tbsp cornstarch; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tbsp dried mint; 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Origin: Levant · Middle East

413kcal

per serving · 350 g

118kcal

per 100 g

24 gProtein7 g / 100 g

21 gFat6 g / 100 g

32 gCarbs9 g / 100 g

Kousa bil laban is small zucchini hollowed out, stuffed with spiced rice and ground lamb, and simmered in a warm yogurt sauce flavoured with garlic and dried mint. The sauce is tangy and creamy, the zucchini soft and the filling savoury. It is a home dish served hot in deep plates, often as an alternative to the tomato-based version.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

Gluten-freeno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

✓

Low-carb9 g carbs per 100 g

Not vegetarianbecause of: ground lamb

Not veganbecause of: ground lamb, yogurt

Contains dairybecause of: yogurt

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Milk

What it is made of

zucchiniground lambriceyogurtgarlicmint

Recipe

4 servings90 min

Ingredients

12 small zucchini
150 g short-grain rice, rinsed
250 g ground lamb
1 tsp seven-spice, salt and pepper
1 kg plain yogurt
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

Hollow out the zucchini with a corer, leaving thin walls.
Mix the rice, lamb, spices, salt and pepper and fill the zucchini three quarters full.
Simmer the zucchini in lightly salted water for 30 minutes until the rice is cooked; keep 200 ml of the liquid.
Whisk the yogurt with the cornstarch and 200 ml cooking liquid and heat slowly, stirring in one direction until it simmers.
Add the zucchini and cook gently for 10 minutes.
Fry the garlic and mint briefly in oil and stir into the sauce before serving.

How to make it lighter

Use low-fat yogurt for the sauce.
Choose lean ground lamb, or mix it half and half with extra rice and herbs.
A portion of 3 zucchini with sauce is filling on its own, so no extra side is needed.

History

Stuffed zucchini is a staple of home cooking in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan, and cooking it in yogurt is one of the traditional ways to prepare it. Cooked yogurt sauces are a long-standing feature of Levantine kitchens, used for dishes such as shish barak and laban immo.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →