Sheikh el-mahshi

The most expensive member of the mahshi family, and the name says so: sheikh means the one at the head. Ordinary stuffed vegetables stretch the filling with rice; this one does not. A hollowed courgette or a small aubergine is packed with minced lamb, onion and pine nuts or almonds fried in butter, seasoned with the usual Aleppo three: cinnamon, allspice and black pepper.

Yoghurt or tomato

There are two ways to cook it and they taste like two different dishes. In the yoghurt version the vegetables simmer in yoghurt stabilised with starch; the pot is never brought to a boil and is stirred in one direction so the sauce does not split. The tomato version is sharper and faster. Which one appears depends on the house and the restaurant, so it is worth asking when you order.

What goes with it

Rice with vermicelli. The sauce is spooned over the rice and eaten that way; bread helps here but does not carry the dish. Mint is scattered over the yoghurt version, parsley over the tomato one.

Where to eat it

In Aleppo it counts as food for guests. The preparation is long, so at home it belongs to invitation days, and in restaurants it appears on the daily pot menu. Other Syrian cities cook it too, but looking for it on an evening grill menu is wasted effort.