Dolma leaf stuffed with sweetened cheese was called "thrion". The exact origins are unknown, but the Persian variety has been traced to at least the 17th century and in the 19th century Naser al-Din Shah Qajars chef records several varieties including stuffed grape leaves, cabbage leaves, cucumbers, eggplants, apples, and quinces. The recorded stuffings included ground meat, sauteed mint, rice and saffron. Dolma is a common dish in Iraqi cuisine, which includes a version of stuffed cabbage leaves, onions in aubergines cooked in tomato sauce. Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Iraqis and Iranians have been making stuffed grape leaves for centuries. Over time,
Stuffed squash similar as for punjene paprike or sarma. Often, punjene tikvice (stuffed squashes) and punjene paprike (stuffed peppers) are made together, as a mixed dish. The name in various languages generally means literally "stuffed squash": ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; "kousa mahshi" / ALA-LC: "kūsā maḥshī". In the Levant, this dish is flavoured with mint and garlic. In Cyprus, the flowers of the marrow are also stuffed. The cultivar is called "Cousa" in Robinson and Decker-Walters (1997) p. 77: "Some summer squash cultivars, e.g. the vegetable marrows ("Cucurbita pepo") are consumed when almost mature. In the Middle East,