Yemista - Stuffed Greek Peppers

Countdown to the weekend is on! Well, not for me, because I'm working this weekend. Feel for me.

But don't feel too bad, because I made these for dinner and they're amazing. You gotta try these. I have been trying to branch out on my side dishes, and I often get inspiration from food I try in restaurants.

After I had eaten them, I just knew I had to recreate these amazing stuffed peppers that I had in my favourite Greek restaurant. I have made some changes to the traditional recipe as I am wont to do.. Traditionally, as far as I can tell, you tend to include sultanas and mint, but I don’t like sultanas and I think mint can be overwhelming in savoury dishes. I also pre-cooked the rice a little because I only had brown rice and my boyfriend is very fussy with the way his rice is cooked.

Delicious filling!

These are great as a side, or on as part of a  little snack-y tapas feast!

serves 3-6

Ingredients for the peppers

• 150g brown rice
• ¼ cup parsley, diced
• ¼ cup pine nuts, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 small tomatoes, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• Pinch cayenne
• Salt and pepper
• 6 bell peppers

Ingredients for the sauce

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ¾ cup of pasatta
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp paprika
• Pinch cayenne

Method

Begin with the rice filling. I cooked mine first but you don’t need to (if you don’t pre-cook the rice then you’ll need to cook the peppers for an hour, wrap them in foil, and cook for another 30 minutes).

Place the brown rice in a pot, add a pinch of salt and 1 litre of boiling water and allow to cook for 20 minutes.

While that’s cooking, prep the rest of the filling by chopping the parsley, pine nuts, onion, tomatoes and garlic. Drizzle over the olive oil and honey, season and add cayenne. Mix well.

Slice the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Season the insides. Place on a baking tray.

When the rice is cooked, add it to the rest of the filling mixture and stir well.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Spoon the rice into the peppers until full but not overflowing and pop the lids back on.

Mix together the ingredients for the sauce and add this to the baking tray.

Cook in the oven for 45 minutes.

Remove and serve piping hot, with the sauce.