Greek Gemista - Vegan Rice Stuffed Tomatoes and Bell Peppers
Gemista - Greek stuffed various vegetables with potatoes on the side.
My yiayia (grandma in greek) was a fantastic cook. Everyone knew her cooking skills and everyone wanted to eat her food. Unfort, she’s not with us today but her recipes is her legacy and they keep on living. Today I want to share my yiayia’s gemista recipe. I almost get chills writing this post, because I know it would mean a lot to her to giving people the chance of tasting her food. But first thing, lets clear out what gemista really is first!
What is gemista?
Gemista is the Greek version of what other countries call “dolma”, “aprax” or simply… stuffed vegetables. In Greece, the gemista is most often entirely vegan, with a rice and herb infused filling, and you most often fill tomatoes and green - and sometimes red - bell peppers. You can also fill grape leaves, but in Greece then you use an other kind of filling and that recipe is called “dolmades”. You can find the recipe of Greek dolmades here.
Important to know when making my grandma’s gemista
Greek recipes always has some secrets for them to become as delicious as they get - and today I’m going to share some of my yiayia’s secrets for gemista.
First thing first, ripe tomatoes. It’s so important to use ripe tomatoes when making gemista and I recommend you to use big ones. I didn’t have access to only big ones so I mixed a bit, but the bigger the more moist, juicy and delicious they become. Not speaking of it being easier and not taking as much time to prepare.
Please don’t be cheap on the olive oil. Both in terms of quality but also in amount. When cooking in the Greek cuisine, olive oil is needed.
In my yiayia’s recipe we are used spearmint and parsley. This can vary a bit depending on who has made the recipe and especially what part of Greece the gemista comes from, but I really like the combination of mint and parsley. Suits amazing with the rest of the flavors.
When making gemista, we always also add potato wedges into the pan. We let them cook together with stuffed tomatoes and bell peppers, and the potatoes get all soft and full of flavor from all the juice and herbs form the ingredients around.
This is something many people don’t do but which my yiayia always did - she topped the covers of the tomatoes and bell peppers with a bit of bread crumbs before baking in the oven, so that it gave a nice crunchiness. So delicious and it really is a nice finishing touch.
How do you serve these gemista? Open up the covers and add tzatziki and feta cheese (vegan). It’s so delicious to combine yoghurt or feta cheese flavor with the tomato, olive oil, herbs, garlic and other deliciousness. Suits so well. Also, have some fresh bread on the side so you can dip the bread into the juice in the pan.
THIS RECIPE IS:
Vegan
Gluten Free
Authentic Greek, from my own Greek grandma
Full of flavor, moist and it melts in your mouth
Great for both kids and adults
Best accompanied with feta cheese or tzatziki
Greek Gemista
INGREDIENTS:
2 big onions
6 garlic cloves
0.5 handful of dried spearmint leaves
2 handfuls of fresh parsley
Approx 1-2 tsp salt
Black pepper
6-7 medium sized tomatoes or 4-5 big tomatoes
3 bell peppers
4 medium sized potatoes
approx 200 g round rice
Plenty of olive oil
A few tbsp bread crumbs
HOW TO MAKE:
Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
Slice of the top, approx 0.5 cm, of the tomatoes and bell peppers, creating a lid/ cover.
Carefully scoop out the whole tomato flesh and juice using a spoon and place it all in a big bowl. Set aside until needed. Place the tomatoes in an oven pan, close to each other so they possibly won’t fall.
Remove any flesh and seeds from the bell peppers and place them next to/ around the tomatoes in the oven pan.
Finely chop two big onions and all of the garlic cloves. Heat up a frying pan with olive oil and add the onions and garlics and sauté.
Mash the tomato flesh in the bowl with your hands or using a fork. Start adding some of the mashed tomato flesh and juice, spearmint, finely chopped parsley and salt to the pan with the onions.
Add generous of salt and black pepper, the rice (unboiled), and sauté for a few minutes. Add more of the tomato flesh/ juice until it has become a nice thick sauce. I used approx 3/4 of the whole bowl.
Wash and scrub the potatoes and cut into potato wedges. Place them around the tomatoes and bell peppers in the pan.
Use a spoon and fill the approx 3/4 of the tomatoes and bell peppers with the rice filling because the rice will expand when cooked.
Drizzle over a little bit of olive oil and then close the tomatoes/ peppers with their lids, and finish with approx 1-2 tsp of bread crumbs per tomato/ bell pepper on top of the “lids”.
Add any of the leftover filling and a little bit of the tomato juice/flesh over the potatoes around the tomatoes and bell peppers. Add 150 ml or water to the pan and drizzle over some olive oil.
Cook for approx 45-60 minutes, until the rice is cooked and the potatoes are soft.