Kousa bil bechamel (Zucchini baked with white sauce) Egyptian Recipe

This post is a few days behind, and I apologize.  Sometimes we get so caught up in life that I just lose track of what I'm doing. 

It is getting to be that wonderful season I know so well in Wisconsin, garden harvest season.  One of the easiest plant to manage that I always loved to make was zucchini but other than zucchini bread and fried zucchini I didn't really find a lot of recipes that I liked to use it with.  That is, until I moved to Egypt.  

Here in Egypt zucchini is another one of those vegetables that is pretty much always in season. Zucchini is also very healthy as it weight friendly as it only has about 17 calories per 100 grams. For those of us who eat it peel on, it is a great source of dietary fiber.  It is also high in vitamin C, folates, potassium, and B-vitamins. 

Earlier I posted a recipe for mahshi kousa (stuffed zucchini) and today I will share my other favorite Egyptian zucchini recipe which is kousa bil bechamel (literally zucchini with bechamel sauce).  This is a fairly easy dish to cook and takes no real technical skill.  There is a little bit of prep work involved, but for a good quality Egyptian meal that is pretty normal.

The bechamel is a milk based sauce which you can either prepare on your own or purchase in a sauce packet (this is one thing I personally prefer to make from the packet).  I will include a recipe for the bechamel sauce the way I was taught to make it even though this recipe will just use the simple sauce packet.  Knorr makes bechamel sauce and it can usually be found in large chain supermarkets like Woodman's near the rest of the sauce packets. You can also find it in halal and international markets.

 BECHAMEL RECIPE: 

Ingredients:

• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 heaping tbsp of flour
• 3 cups of milk
• 2 tsp pepper (black)
• salt to taste

Directions:

1. Add the 3-4 tablespoons of oil to the pot, and add the flour to make a paste. Stir it around a few minutes to cook out that raw flour taste. 
2. Next, add your salt, pepper, & milk (gradually) and whisk -don't stop whisking.
3. Keep whisking until it starts to bubble, and becomes thick like pudding. 
4. Remove from heat and set aside

KOUSA BIL BECHAMEL RECIPE: 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds zucchini cut into 1 cm thick rounds (early or small zucchini works best)
• 1 medium red onion (diced or minced)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 cups of tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground chili
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• about 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions: 

1. In a medium sauce pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat.  Add onions and cook until translucent. 
2. Add ground beef and be sure to break up any chunks as it cooks.  
3. While the beef is browning, in another pan heat  1  1/2 tbsp oil over medium heat.
4. Add zucchini batch by batch and cook until they are fork tender.  Remove from heat.
5. Add tomato sauce, pepper, salt, cumin, chili, nutmeg, and cinnamon to meat and onions in the sauce pan.  Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer.  With cover off reduce until almost all of the liquid is gone (think lasagna sauce).
6. In another sauce pan heat bechamel packet according to ingredients. Remove from heat. 
7. Take remaining oil and spread on the bottom of a rectangular baking dish.  Coat with bread crumbs and tap the sides to remove any access.
8. Layer 1/2 of the zucchini along the bottom of the pan.  Spread half of meat and sauce on top.
9. Add final layer of zucchini again topped by the remainder of meat and sauce mix. 
10. Finally, add bechamel over top of the meat.  Spread over mixture.
11. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350°F or until bechamel in golden brown and zucchini is soft. 
12. Serve with Egyptian Rice