What’s in a Pot of Mahshi?

In order to understand what mahshi means to Egyptians, it is important to find its roots in Egyptian culture. The ancient Egyptian name for Egypt (Kemet) means Black Land. The Nile deposited a dark, rich, and fertile soil in Egypt for centuries. It was so bountiful and unique from neighboring lands that the country was known for it. Coupled with seemingly unending sunshine, Egypt was simultaneously the salad bowl and breadbasket of the region.

Indigenous crops such as lettuce, garlic, onion, radish, turnip, broad beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, cowpeas, molokhia, rocket, and cabbage, along with many others, have been cultivated in Egypt since at least the Pharaonic period. The diet of Egyptians, over centuries, has been mostly vegetable, grain, and legume based, with less frequent consumption of meats and dairy products.

The word “mahshi” in Arabic literally means “stuffed.” When this word is used on its own, it generally refers to an assortment of vegetables that have been stuffed with seasoned Egyptian short-grain rice and cooked in broth. In Cairo, mahshi is most popularly made with green bell peppers, grape vine leaves, zucchini, cabbage, and eggplant. In rural Egypt, mahshi is extended to almost any vegetable or leaf that can be stuffed: lettuce leaves, radish leaves, potatoes, tomatoes, and onions; the list goes on. It is eaten as the main starch component in a meal accompanying other vegetable and meat-based dishes.

Chef Mostafa Elrefaei, co-owner of Egyptian street food restaurant Zooba and food heritage researcher, explains that mahshi as we know it today is a very modern food. It is a recipe that is heavily reliant on tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, ingredients that only took root in Egyptian soil and culture after the Islamic conquest by the Arabs. These were relatively recent additions to Egyptian agriculture, becoming widespread during the 18th century, and have grown to be some of the most cultivated crops in Egypt today.

It is widely known that the Ottomans introduced stuffed vegetables to the Egyptians with the start of their colonization in the 16th century. The Ottomans called this dish “Dolma,” a name still used to this day to refer specifically to stuffed green peppers, eggplants, and zucchinis. The name “dolma” does not extend to stuffed leaves. This could be due to the fact that cabbages, grape leaves, lettuce, and any other leafy vegetables that could be stuffed are indigenous to Egypt whereas peppers, eggplants, and zucchinis are foreign vegetables.

Most fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, brought to Egypt with the movement of people through colonization and trade, have been added to the long list of foods farmed in Egypt. Much of the vegetation we consider to be the cornerstones of modern-day Egyptian cuisine are relatively recent additions to our diet.

Mahshi can be eaten hot or cold, accompanied by other dishes or all alone, with a squirt of lemon or a dollop of cooling yogurt salad. Mahshi comes in many forms, which is why it is a hugely popular dish today: it caters to all tastes.
 
Mahshi is a labor-intensive dish to create. The time and effort required positions it as a family favorite, a comfort food, and a dish that shows you are loved. Because of its long cooking process, only well-seasoned cooks can master it, namely, mothers and grandmothers. As with most Egyptian food, it is best eaten homemade than in a restaurant.

There are as many recipes for making mahshi as there are Egyptian families. These recipes are passed down through generations, each recipe with its own secret ingredient depending on preferred flavors.
 
The process starts with deciding whether to make a pot of assorted vegetables or just one vegetable. As a hard and fast rule, both warak enab (stuffed vine leaves) and koromb (stuffed cabbage) are cooked alone, never mixed with other vegetables in the same pot, whereas zucchini, eggplant, and green bell peppers are free to be mixed as the cook desires. This segregation comes from the cooking times of robust vegetables versus the more delicate stuffed leaves.

The preparation of grape vine leaves and cabbage leaves is different. Fresh grape vine leaves can be bought in local markets during its season. They are destemmed and boiled in water till semi-cooked. Jarred grape vine leaves are available at supermarkets all-year round and are soaked in water to remove their bitter taste. Cabbage leaves are similarly boiled in water (with a dash of cumin powder) to prevent bloating, generally the result of eating mahshi koromb. When semi-cooked, the leaves are left to cool and the thick center vein is removed and then cut down to a suitable size.

Rice was brought to Egypt with the Islamic conquest; there is evidence to suggest that it was grown in small quantities in the regions of Al Fayoum and Upper Egypt since at least the 10th century.

However, it only really gained in popularity during the 16th century under Ottoman rule, resulting in its abundance in local markets, as well as affordability. Rice was a food staple in Ottoman cuisine and thus was farmed extensively in Egypt and shipped to hungrier parts of the empire.