Traditional Greek stuffed vegetables

Although I am neither a vegetarian nor a vegan, stuffed vegetables is my favorite Greek dish. ‘Yemista’, as it is called in Greek, is one of those dishes that I’d rather have at home than at a tavern. When I was a child, it was always my grandmother who’d make this delicious dish; if I didn’t happen to be in her house, she would always find a way to send a few portions to mine. Now that I am an adult, I’ve simply taken over that role myself.

For me, ‘yemista’ have always been tomatoes and bell peppers stuffed with rice and baked in the oven. As a child, I would eat the filling of the tomatoes and leave the skins and the peppers to the rest of the family. As an adult, not only I eat the skins and the peppers, but I’ve also come across several variations of the dish. For example, I have tried other stuffed vegetables, such as aubergines (eggplants) and courgettes (zucchini). I’ve also come across non-vegetarian stuffed vegetables; these are stuffed with rice and minced meat.

However, every time I bake this dish, I follow my grandmother’s recipe, which is the one I’m sharing here.

Ingredients:

6 large tomatoes
6 bell peppers
1 onion, diced
500 grams medium-grain rice (i.e. arborio)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Spices: cinnamon, paprika, allspice
Herbs: parsley
Salt and pepper
A drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

Makes 3-4 portions

Method:

Slice off and reserve the tops of the tomatoes and the peppers.
Carefully, remove the pulp from the tomatoes, and blend.
Carefully, remove the seeds from the peppers, and throw away.
Lay the vegetables in an ovenproof dish, sprinkling some salt in the interior of the vegetables.
Heat some olive oil in a pan, add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the blended pulp from the tomatoes, and cook for another 10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat, and add the rice, the tomato paste, the spices, herbs, salt and pepper, and mix well.
Fill the vegetables with the rice mixture (about three-quarters full).
Replace the tops of the vegetables.
Drizzle the vegetables with some olive oil.
Pour some water into the ovenproof dish, to cover the base of the dish.
Cover with aluminium foil.
Bake at 180 degrees for about 2 hours.

Further reading

For more mouth-watering Greek recipes, check out the following recently-published posts:

‘Baked tomato fritters from Santorini‘

‘Baked zucchini (courgette) fritters‘

‘Spinach and feta cheese pie‘

‘Fava: a healthy Greek island recipe‘

‘Trahanas: heart-warming Greek winter recipes‘

‘6 delicious Greek summer recipes‘

‘Watermelon & feta: Mykonos-inspired recipes‘

Alex

(the Traveling Psychiatrist)