Greece - Yemista

Yemista is Greece's version of stuffed peppers which is a popular dish in many countries. They often stuff peppers and tomatoes so today I'm doing both.

 

Ingredients:

2 large beef tomatoes

2 peppers

3/4 cup rice

2 garlic cloves

1 onion

2-3 tablespoons fresh mint

50g feta cheese

50g sliced almonds

200ml stock

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

salt & pepper

 

The first thing to do is to make the stuffing mixture. Chop up the onion and garlic then saute it in some oil. While this is cooking you can start par-boiling the rice.

 

Next make up the stock and add 3/4 of it to the softened onions and garlic. Stir it well then add the partly cooked rice. Also add the parsley, mint, almonds, feta, salt and pepper. 

 

Give it all a really good mix and then take it off the heat to cool for a few minutes.

 

 

Now we can get the peppers and tomatoes ready to be stuffed. Cut off the tops and hollow them out.

 

 

Fill each with the stuffing mixture and replace the top as a lid. Pour the remaining stock in the tray and place in the oven at 175C. Cook for 45-60 minutes making sure the tray doesn't go dry and burn the bottoms of the peppers/tomatoes. Add more hot water if needed.

 

 

Serve with a spoon of greek yoghurt.

 

 

I really liked the combination of mint and feta cheese in the rice. It was delicious. I'm not keen on squishy, roasted tomato though. Overall it was a tasty, filling dish which we enjoyed.