I was sent some seeds of a Maltese zucchini called qarabali. I've never grown zucchini before, but with free seed I thought I'd give it a shot. On Friday it made its first female flower, which I hand fertilized with a male flower, and by Sunday this was here to greet me!
![http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/zucchinijan.JPG](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s2zzIM3KamHXsKXfJaQXZf8MaJ4itx-5Fw-d9DHXssBp1eqwg1HOEa8-06I9O7AQ3BCldula4iurtSnlu_hIyxQf7r-lhhylWsfsjU49rZPchl6egIo-Ad=s0-d)
By Wednesday it was time to pick it. Pretty fast turnaround.
![http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/zucchini1.JPG](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vsiMw32Y8tgVPkNTJTfxbXAvwqD0223Mw2JqBtbSG9x77fpOaJbX-Y_IuHr4_OTC_bPJXtsGnkMxdoMhm49BXVu81eaNxr75szvCpY7rpCnwbHtydzig=s0-d)
As you can see, qarabali is a round zucchini made for stuffing. So that's what I did! After reading a few recipes for inspiration I had a go without a recipe. Shallots, pumpkin, the insides of the zucchini and some raisins along with couscous and Moroccan spices. Not all the stuffing fit so I ate the rest as a side dish.
![http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/zucchini2.JPG](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sHPxr_YLwXncZlDGcR2LD23cDqQiJDi1us8vpnbguFZs5w33p6xOGx0tvH5NfChqY2sBA5TgYRlwpbcpte4SgjaR19cyMZS0NY-Iq9uDcA5GxXNH2V=s0-d)
It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself. The zucchini itself is very mild, almost like a cucumber, so it's better with the stuffing. Now if I'm lucky, I'll have a massive glut of them before long, zucchini is notorious for either never setting fruit or setting more than you could possibly eat.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sU7z2GJUM_ipIa1KFJ6C4fXE-d0Y84byuGHX_QxNwPsV4R8IOL62gjADIIeVpk2bSUA_KSlUPpQAcJYt3IrL8hQu9DvlKi8VhHUIgqZEt7x_HPnGdAw79U_Y-_rJ9KgCKmc5GCHFR7QHCa2Z0=s0-d)
Wednesday 26 January 2011
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1 comments:
Yum, I love qarabali!! There are two ways to cook it which are traditional Maltese cuisine. One is to chop it up and fry it in a lot of olive oil with some bacon and onion. The other recipe is to stuff it with pork and veal mince among other things. I'll be posting a recipe for the latter on my blog www.5sensescooking.blogspot.com tonight! After reading this, I might try my hand at growing some qarabali myself.
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