Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers and Tomatoes (Gemista II)

I call them vegetarian, but we usually called them Fasting dish. Maybe not all of you know that Orthodox Christians fast before Easter and Christmas.In Romania, fasting (on meat) is when people for a certain period don't eat any animal related food, including the meat itself and it products, for example milk or eggs. 

For such cases, as long as we can eat just vegetarian dishes, we usually replace the meat with mushrooms... and this is how this recipe was born :)

(My own recipe)

Serves 3-6

Ingredients:

• 200 gr Champignon mushrooms
• 3 tomatoes
• 3 bell peppers
• 1 cup of rice
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 Kapia peppers ( or an extra red bell pepper)
• 2 medium onions 
• 100 ml tomato puree (or 2 medium  ripe tomatoes)
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp dill
• salt and pepper

Step One

Wash well the vegetables. Slice the top of each tomato and bell pepper, creating something like a lid, but without separating it .Clean the peppers from the seeds. With a teaspoon remove the flesh (center and seeds) of the tomatoes. Put the flesh aside in a bowl for later use. (See Gemista)

Step Two

 Blend the tomato flesh with the kapia pepper. Afterwards mix it with the tomato puree and set aside. Chop the mushrooms (as small as you can but don't blend them), the onions and the garlic. 

Step Three 

Put in a deep pan 5 tbsp olive oil. Add the chopped onion and garlic, fry until the onion is  translucent. Add the chopped mushrooms and fry for 5-10 min or until the water from the mushrooms is evaporated

Then, add the blended vegetable we have set aside and let them simmer for 5 min.
Afterwards, add the cup of rice and let it simmer for 2-3 min. Add also the herbs (1 tsp of dill and oregano) and season to taste. Mix well and let the mixture simmer for another 5 min.

Step Four

(At this point it's the best time to start preheating your oven on 180° C)
Stuff the vegetables with the mixture up to three fourths (to allow the rice to expand without overflowing. Close the vegetables with their "lids" and arrange them in the cooking pot.

Bake on 180° C for 60-75 min. Keep the lid on for the first 45 min.
Serve warm with smântână or Greek yogurt.

ENJOY!!!!!!

Tip: Always have an extra tomato or pepper because the size of the vegetables is not always the same, sometimes you use more, sometimes less :)

Tip 2: You can always stuff other vegetables like eggplant and squash .