Hashweh Stuffed Swiss Chard
By America's Test KitchenPublished on July 19, 2025
Time
1½ hours, plus 30 minutes soaking
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Look for large Swiss chard leaves that are about 7 inches long and 5 inches wide. You can use smaller leaves, though you’ll need more Swiss chard leaves in order to use up the filling. If any leaves rip, patch them up with another small piece of leaf. Serve with plain whole-milk yogurt.
Instructions
- Cover 1 cup jasmine rice with boiling water and let sit for 30 minutes; drain in fine-mesh strainer and set aside. Meanwhile, trim any of the 12 large Swiss chard stems that extend beyond leaves and chop fine; set aside. Place chard leaves in bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 1 minute, then drain leaves and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add 1 finely chopped onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in finely chopped chard stems and cook for 1 minute. Stir in 2 teaspoons ground allspice, 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in 8 ounces ground lamb and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon and scraping up fond from bottom of skillet, until lamb is mostly cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in ⅓ cup golden raisins, 2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds, 1¼ teaspoons table salt, and drained rice, then transfer to bowl. Wipe skillet clean with paper towels.
- Place 1 chard leaf flat on counter with long side parallel to counter edge. Place 3 to 4 tablespoons rice mixture in center of leaf, then fold right side of leaf over filling followed by left side, tucking any excess leaf underneath. Fold bottom of leaf up over pouch, followed by top of leaf, tucking any excess leaf underneath (you should end up with a roughly square-shaped pouch). Repeat with remaining chard leaves and remaining rice mixture.
- Arrange stuffed chard pouches seam side down in clean, dry skillet, stacking chard pouches if needed. Add 1¼ cups water to skillet; bring to simmer; cover; and cook over medium-low heat until rice is cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes (to test rice doneness, cut small slice in 1 pouch and extract rice). If skillet looks dry at any point during steaming, add extra water, 2 tablespoons at a time. Off heat, sprinkle 2 tablespoons lemon juice over chard pouches in skillet.
- Meanwhile, combine broth, ¼ cup water, 3 lightly crushed and peeled garlic cloves, ½ ounce rinsed and minced dried shiitake mushrooms, and 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger in small saucepan. Bring to simmer, cover, and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Season with salt to taste, and remove from heat. Let sit, covered to keep warm, until ready to serve.
- Spoon seasoned broth into individual bowls, add chard pouches, and serve.
Time
1½ hours, plus 30 minutes soakingYield
Serves 4Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
These stuffed Swiss chard leaves bathed in a delicate ginger broth make a hearty and impressive dinner. They’re filled with hashweh, which is Arabic for “stuffing” and refers to a rice-and-meat mixture that's redolent with warm spices and often used as a filling. To make ours, we used just 8 ounces of ground lamb, which infused the dish with the meat's distinctly earthy flavor. We cooked the meat with lightly caramelized onion and aromatic spices, including allspice and cardamom, to create a savory foundation for the hashweh. We then added jasmine rice (which we first soaked in boiling water to shorten the cooking time) along with fruity raisins and crunchy toasted almonds. To turn Swiss chard into tender wrappers, we covered the leaves in boiling water, which made them sufficiently pliable without causing them to fall apart. After stuffing the leaves with hashweh, we steamed the pouches in a small amount of water, which not only helped the leaves stay intact, but also preserved their minerality and bitter edge. A splash of fresh lemon juice before serving injected the dish with a burst of brightness that balanced the warmth of the spiced filling. Seasoning chicken broth simply with ginger and dried shiitake mushrooms made for a clean yet savory broth that was perfect for serving the vibrantly flavored stuffed Swiss chard.
Before You Begin
Look for large Swiss chard leaves that are about 7 inches long and 5 inches wide. You can use smaller leaves, though you’ll need more Swiss chard leaves in order to use up the filling. If any leaves rip, patch them up with another small piece of leaf. Serve with plain whole-milk yogurt.
Instructions
- Cover 1 cup jasmine rice with boiling water and let sit for 30 minutes; drain in fine-mesh strainer and set aside. Meanwhile, trim any of the 12 large Swiss chard stems that extend beyond leaves and chop fine; set aside. Place chard leaves in bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 1 minute, then drain leaves and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add 1 finely chopped onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in finely chopped chard stems and cook for 1 minute. Stir in 2 teaspoons ground allspice, 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in 8 ounces ground lamb and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon and scraping up fond from bottom of skillet, until lamb is mostly cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in ⅓ cup golden raisins, 2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds, 1¼ teaspoons table salt, and drained rice, then transfer to bowl. Wipe skillet clean with paper towels.
- Place 1 chard leaf flat on counter with long side parallel to counter edge. Place 3 to 4 tablespoons rice mixture in center of leaf, then fold right side of leaf over filling followed by left side, tucking any excess leaf underneath. Fold bottom of leaf up over pouch, followed by top of leaf, tucking any excess leaf underneath (you should end up with a roughly square-shaped pouch). Repeat with remaining chard leaves and remaining rice mixture.
- Arrange stuffed chard pouches seam side down in clean, dry skillet, stacking chard pouches if needed. Add 1¼ cups water to skillet; bring to simmer; cover; and cook over medium-low heat until rice is cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes (to test rice doneness, cut small slice in 1 pouch and extract rice). If skillet looks dry at any point during steaming, add extra water, 2 tablespoons at a time. Off heat, sprinkle 2 tablespoons lemon juice over chard pouches in skillet.
- Meanwhile, combine broth, ¼ cup water, 3 lightly crushed and peeled garlic cloves, ½ ounce rinsed and minced dried shiitake mushrooms, and 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger in small saucepan. Bring to simmer, cover, and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Season with salt to taste, and remove from heat. Let sit, covered to keep warm, until ready to serve.
- Spoon seasoned broth into individual bowls, add chard pouches, and serve.
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