Maschi My Way

Written by Amani Ali

It was mid-week and I didn’t have a meal plan yet. I had a bag of roma tomatoes that I bought on sale, and there were 9 left in the bag. I had a pound of ground beef. When I looked at the two ingredients, my first thought was Maschi, a Sudanese stuffed tomato dish made with beef and rice. I had some couscous to use so I cooked it up instead of rice. 

Instead of using dill, the traditional herb, I knew that berbere seasoning would be a good flavor profile for this dish. I borrowed from Sudan’s neighbor Ethiopia by flavoring my Sudanese dish with Ethiopian seasoning. 

Featuring 

Chef Sarah Germany Berbere Blend: A salt-free combination of warm spices that coat your tongue with earthy and floral notes, followed by a dry mild heat. 

Ingredients:

• 9 roma tomatoes

• ¾ cup couscous

• ½ lb ground beef

• 2 cups chicken stock

• 2 tbsp CSG berbere seasoning

• ½  tsp ground cinnamon

Steps:

1. Cut the tomatoes lengthwise then remove the core with a spoon. Reserve the cores and juice in a bowl, which you’ll use to make a quick tomato sauce to flavor the filling. 

2. Put the tomato cores and juice in a blender. If you have other vegetables that need to be used, add them too. I had sauteed mushrooms and onions from earlier in the week. 

3. My tomato, mushroom, and onion mix made 2 cups. I cooked the mix in an oiled saucepan until the water evaporated (roughly 5 minutes) then reserved half for another dish.

4. Lay the tomato halves into a baking dish and salt them. Dump any water that may accumulate in the tomatoes before filling them.

5. In a large saucepan, add couscous, chicken stock, veggie mixture, salt, cinnamon, and berbere seasoning. Bring it to a boil, cover, then remove the pan from the heat and let the couscous steam for 5 minutes. Once it’s ready, fluff it with a fork. Usually couscous is cooked with a 1:2 ratio of couscous and water, but we want a little extra liquid in the couscous so it stays moist in the oven.

6. Mix the beef and couscous together and stuff the tomatoes using 2 spoons: one to scoop and one to push the mixture into the tomatoes and pack it down.

7. Cook at 350 for 1 hour. The tomatoes will be soft after 30 minutes but cook longer to mute their astringency.

8. Let the dish cool for a few minutes before serving so the tomatoes retain their shape. 

You may serve them as is or top with feta or herbs.

Maschi (Sudanese stuffed tomatoes)

Nutrition Nook: Sudanese Cuisine

Though the Bay Area is home to many Ethiopian restaurants, we hear little about the food of their western neighbor, Sudan. This is likely due to the decades of political strife due to global interference that has kept their people at risk of genocide and malnutrition. Traditional Sudanese dishes feature peanuts, lamb, chicken, and beans. The national dish is Ful Medamas, a fava bean stew eaten with bread.

Are you part of the flavor revolution? Show us your creation by tagging us on Instagram, or send us an email: info @ chefsarahgermany.com. We can’t wait to see what you’re cooking up with Chef Sarah's products.