Monday, August 30, 2010

Yemista - stuffed vegtables

Yemista (yem-iss-ta) - stuffed vegtables

OK for this recipe i use good red capsicums, mainly because the red variety are sweeter than the green, but for this you can use a variety of vegetables, e.g. onions, tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums.. basically anything you can hollow out. 

Ingredients needed:

500g lean beef mince
2 cups short grain rice,
1 onion
1 clove of garlic or 1 teaspoon of the crushed kind
1 tin diced Italian tomato
1 teaspoon of: dried mint, oregano, parsley
a splash of Tabasco sauce (red kind)
5- 6 medium sized red capsicums
2 table spoons of tomato paste.

Utensils needed: 
A good sized non stick saucepan (to cook the filling) 
A good sized baking tray (with lid), big enough to stand the capsicums out.

Method:
Preparing the capsicums: Slice the tops of the capsicums off (about half a cm from the top) keep the tops as you will use these as lids later on. Once you have cut off the tops of the capsicums get a spoon and scrape out the white insides of the capsicums, remove any seeds from inside as well, usually this can be achieved by a quick rinse under old water. 

Preparing the filling:


*Heat a non stick saucepan till its hot, Add in the onions and garlic and SautĂ©, then slowly start adding the beef mince until brown.
*Now add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste with a little water (usually 1/2 a cup) and mix well.
add herbs and Tabasco sauce. and mix well.
* Add the rice and 1 cup of hot water and mix, i usually let the rice cook risotto style for 5 or so minutes before i take the mixture off the heat,
(now my mum usually adds 1 bay leaf and 3 cloves to the mixture but to be honest i cant be stuffed messing around trying to find these later on to take out, so i just dont bother (sorry mum))

* Place the capsicums upright in the oven tray, scoop the mixture evenly into the hollow capsicums, put the capsicum tops back on and place about 2cms of hot water in the bottom of the oven tray, cover with the lid and place in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes..

Cooking time could take longer, but you know they are done when you take the lid off one and the rice is cooked.

Serve with a good greek salad and some of the tzatziki mentioned below
Enjoy

Spiro

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