Stuffed Zucchini with yogurt sauce!

I am a non-vegetarian who absolutely adores veggies.I rarely indulge in an all meat meal,if in case I do which  is not quite often, a veggie side dish is a must.Whereas my mystery man is all about meat.A meatless lunch is by default  followed by a full fledged meat dinner.In fact a mere mention of veggy meal sets his expressions to "I-just-visited-my-dentist-look".So,i rarely go public about my veggie meals till its serving time.

Zucchini being one of my favorite veggie.I can have it in any possible way.Its such a versatile one.You can soup it ,cake it,stuff it or simply grill it.Rice stuffed zucchini is my all-time favorite.I can develop an appetite instantly.Just a mere mention of zucchini sets my mouth watering.Though i don’t have any nostalgic zucchini memories from childhood.In-fact, as a child i hatted veggies in general and could not even stand the mention of Zucchini.They were an instant appetite killer.But over the years my taste buds have changed, they have flipped to a healthier side.The perfect indicator of this change is that i have over grown the irrational fear of greens.

Zucchini is insanely good .It is loaded with useful amounts of folate potassium and vitamin A .Half a cup of zucchini also contains 19% of the recommended amount of manganese.It low in calories.

Ingredients

• Zucchinis 6-8
• 1 & 1/2 cup short grain 
• 1 large onion-chopped
• 4-5 thsp tomato paste
• 1 & 1/2 Thsp seven spices 
• 1 thsp dried mint
• 1thsp grounded cumin
• 1 thsp black pepper
• Salt as per taste
• 6 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil + 3 thsp

  For the sauce

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 whole egg
• 1 chicken stalk cube 
• 2 thsp cornflour
• 1 thsp black pepper freshly grounded
• Juice of 1 whole lemon.

Method

1.  Wash zucchinis and cut green caps off. Core each zucchini with a coring knife. Save the insides, set aside.
2.  Mix rice,garlic,tomato paste,3 thsp olive oil ,onion & all the spices.
3.  Stuff the rice mixture into the cored zucchinis.Do not fill it till the top leave a little space,as the the rice   will swell up once cooked & we do not want it to pop out.
4. Make a mixture of 1/2 cup olive oil , juice of  1 lemon & 2 cups water.
5. In a deep pot place the zucchinis & the mixture.Cover the pot and let it cook on medium heat for 25 minutes.Do not open the lid till thn.
6. Check after 20-25 mins if the rice is done and the zucchinis are tender turn the heat off.If they are still hard let it cook for another 10 -15 mins.
7. Once done place the zucchinis on a flat plate & save the stock.
8. Take out half a cup of stock & add cornflour to it.Beat it to form a creamy mixture. 
9. In a sauce pan,on medium heat, add the rest of the stock and slowly stir it beaten yogurt.Season with salt & pepper.You can also add a cube of chicken stock for some added flavor.But make sure in that case you do not add salt.
10. Add egg and keep whisking it till the sauce starts to thicken.(approx 3-5 mins ).Be very careful at this stage if the mixture is not stirred continuously, it will curdle.
11. Now add the cornflour mixture stirring.As the sauce starts to thicken further,remove it from the heat.
12. Drizzle the sauce over the zucchinis and they are ready to be serve.

• The inside pulp can be added to minced meat or rice.Its adds a hint of flavor to plain rice.
• I used long grain basmati since i was out of short grain rice.Basmati rice is certainly not a good option.they break while mixing.

This post goes to Any one can cook ,Iftar moments hijri 1432, Full Plate Thursday, Savory Sundays & Food palette series black.

This post also goes to Iftar Nights.