Kusa is Arabic for zucchini,

a very famous vegetable in Arabic cuisine. We like to cook it in every form or way imaginable. Personally, kusa takes me back to childhood. It reminds me of when I would come home after school; the smell of it just filled the house. Therefore, to me, it definitely belongs to the comfort food category! Let alone that is a main ingredient in my absolute, all time favourite dish: the Palestinian main course dish of rolled vine leaves and stuffed Kusa (OMG)!

When coring Kusa for the stuffing (as you will see in the video below), you get a byproduct, which is the cored flesh. Why waste good food? A question that the Palestinian people had obviously asked and devised a solution for. The flesh is usually stir fried with olive oil, chilli (optional for spicy), salt and black pepper along with minched garlic cloves. The whole mix is seasoned with cumin to add an earthy aroma that pairs very well with the green flavour of Kusa. This is known as Allayet Kusa Spicy Zucchini stir fry. This is so good that you don’t want to make it only when you are coring Kusas, so you can also carry it out by grating the kusa instead.

This Allayet Kusa  makes a perfect snack, light dinner with toasted bread or even an excellent and very interesting dip for your crudites and bread sticks. Also this is traditionally used as another amazing base for shakshooka instead of the same old tomato shakshuka. I love using this allayeh as a base for many sandwiches and in the construction of some dishes. It just adds an interesting touch…

let’s do this.