Recipe courtesy of Yumna Jawad

Thanksgiving Hashweh

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  • Level: Easy
  • Total: 40 min
  • Active: 15 min
  • Yield: 4 to 6 servings
This dish is inspired by traditional Lebanese hashweh—which is the Arabic word for stuffing. Hashweh is generally made with onions, ground beef, spices and sometimes rice. It’s used for stuffing peppers, squash, grape leaves, potatoes, cabbage and chicken. It is also ideal for turkey. The fat from the ground beef lends delicious flavor to the bird, while the onions and spices provide a warm aroma perfect for the holidays.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and ground beef and cook until the onions are soft and the ground beef is browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with the seven-spice blend, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper and stir to combine. Add the rice and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Pour the chicken broth on top and mix all the ingredients together. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 15 minutes, until the rice is fully cooked. Remove from the heat but keep covered and allow the steam to continue cooking the rice for 10 more minutes. Fluff the rice, sprinkle with pine nuts and fresh herbs and use as stuffing for turkey.

Cook’s Note

You can buy toasted pine nuts to add to the recipe or you can use raw pine nuts and toast them yourself. Toast the pine nuts before cooking the beef and onions in the pot you’ll use for cooking the ground beef. That minimizes the pots you’ll use and lends a nutty flavor from the pine nuts to the ground beef. Make sure to add the seasoning to the onions and ground beef after they are mostly cooked. That’s because adding seasoning, especially salt, to ground beef too early can draw out the moisture and make the beef less juicy. Add small-diced vegetables to the stuffing. The classic recipe is generally onions, beef and spices along with rice. However, it’s a great recipe for using up leftover vegetables you have in your fridge like tomatoes, zucchini or peppers.