Gemista or Yemista – Stuffed vegetables oven baked – Greek traditional vegan recipe
Gemista or Yemista, is a delicious traditional Greek food with oven-baked vegetables stuffed with rice that the whole family loves! When Gemista is in your oven, your kitchen will be filled with wonderful smells, aromas, and incomparable taste of this wonderful vegan food.
What ingredients to use and what not to use for Gemista / Yemista
When it comes to food we all have different tastes and likes. And even so, our tastes can change over time. I know it first hand as my taste in food has changed a lot since I was little. The following recipe I have developed after many years of personal experimentation with Gemista and is the winner of my heart. I prefer vegan Gemista (or “Orfana” as we call them in Greece) over the version with minced meat.
Ingredients I like to use for Gemista / Yemista
Over the years I discovered that the combination of dill, parsley, and spearmint goes wonderful with rice and even more so with this particular food. I would urge you to try it even if you do not like spearmint as a herb. When I was little I had no special love for spearmint but growing up I started to like it for its freshness and its special aroma.
I love having stuffed zucchini with my Gemista because not only do they taste great, but their filling enhances the flavor of the rice stuffing. I prefer the zucchini filling as well as fresh tomatoes, to be finely chopped and not in the form of puree.
Do not skimp on garlic, it is one of the basic ingredients and this amount that I suggest below may seem like a lot to you but it is not for this amount of rice that we want to flavor.
I only add fresh tomatoes in the filling on purpose because the pulp or the canned tomato sauce hardens the rice and it is not cooked properly in the oven. For the same reason, I do not add any tomato sauce or paste or puree to the baking tray. I only use a little water and olive oil which is closer to a cooking method named confit method. Trust me and try them as I suggest they are delicious!
Ingredients I do NOT like to use for Gemista / Yemista
I do not like to add the inside of the eggplants in the filling because they sweeten the rice, without flavoring it. They tend to pull all the oil and spices on them and leave the rice without seasoning. This does not happen if we saute the eggplants first but it is not worth it in my opinion.
You may stuff the eggplants if you want, just do not add their pulp with the rice filling.
I also do not like to add smoked or sweet paprika because it sweetens the rice and does not go well with spearmint in my palate.
I do not add tomato paste or tomato juice or canned tomato puree to the food because the vegetables and potatoes are becoming stiff and are not cook properly.
I do not like to add chopped green peppers in the filling either. The filling gets flavored from its surrounding vegetables and since we stuff green bell peppers anyway we do not need to add more to the filling.
3 important tips for perfect oven baked Gemista / Yemista
1.
Gemista, although it is a traditional Greek dish, has a lot of room for experimentation and there are many variations of the original recipe and how it is prepared. Sautéing the rice with the onions is optional but fairly important for developing flavor and acquiring the perfect cooking. I mention 2 onions in my recipe. One, you can add in the filling raw if you so prefer but blend it a little with your food processor. And the second onion you can finely chop and sauté it with the rice and olive oil.
Sauteing the rice with the onion helps the onion lose its “edge” which makes it tastier when baked.
If you do not sauté the rice, it will take longer to bake, which will result in the vegetables being cooked on the outside but the rice uncooked on the inside. In that case, I have a simple solution for you and that is to cover the baking tray with aluminum foil and bake it for 15 more minutes so the rice is baked to perfection.
2.
In order to cook the Gemista to perfection, we need to oil all the vegetables very well on the outside. In general, you should know that Gemista loves olive oil so let’s not be stingy and add plenty for a nice rich taste. Add a little olive oil to your hands and oil all the vegetables on the outside after you have stuffed them.
3.
This dish needs very good seasoning because after it is cooked, it will be hard to season it all the way through. I salt it 3 times in total to be well salted.
Start the seasoning with a pinch of salt when we sauté the rice with the onion, the second time we add another pinch of salt and pepper after we gather all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. For the third time, lightly salt the inside of the vegetables just before adding the filling.
Why add breadcrumbs on top of the Gemista / Yemista?
We add breadcrumbs on top of Gemista because it prevents the vegetable lids from browning too much and it also looks good! Nevertheless, it is optional.
What goes with Yemista / Gemista?
Yemista/Gemista loves feta and freshly baked bread. Sometimes people might also eat it with Tzatziki which also goes well with a rice dish. Whatever you choose to accompany your Gemista with, I’m sure it will taste awesome! (“Yemista” is how it sounds like in Greek and “Gemista” is how we spell it in Greek).
Gemista or Yemista – Stuffed vegetables oven baked – Greek traditional vegan recipe
Ingredients:
- 7-9 large firm Tomatoes, for stuffing
- 5-8 medium green bell Peppers
- 6 Zucchini cut in half
- 350g medium grain Rice, washed well
- 2 large Onions, finely chopped
- 2 Carrots, grated
- 5-6 cloves of Garlic, minced
- 5 Potatoes, cut into wedges
- 3/4 of a cup Olive Oil, divided
- 1 cup of Parsley, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup of Dill, finely chopped
- 2 pinches of dried Spearmint
- Salt /Pepper
- A handful of Breadcrumbs (Optional)
Instructions without sauteing the rice:
- Empty the insides of the vegetables, discard the insides of the peppers, keep the insides of the tomatoes and the zucchini, and finely chop them.
- Cut the top from the tomatoes and peppers, which we will use as a lid.
- Cut the zucchini in half and from each half cut a thin slice that you will use as a lid.
- Wash the rice well, by changing 3 waters.
- Place the finely chopped onion in a bowl and add 2 Tbsp of Salt.
- Massage the onion with the salt well and let it rest for 10 minutes. This hack softens the onion, it makes it tastier and easier to bake.
- Add to a big bowl the onion, the rice, the inside of the tomatoes finely chopped, the inside of the zucchini finely chopped, the parsley, dill, spearmint, garlic, 2 pinches of black pepper, and 3 Tbsp of Olive oil.
- Add 2 pinches of salt and 2 pinches of pepper to a shallow plate and set it aside.
- Dip your index finger in water and tap it on top of the plate with the salt and pepper so that it sticks to your finger.
- Use your finger to season the insides of the vegetables with a circular movement, and then add the filling.
- Cut the potatoes into big wedges, add them to a bowl, and season them with the remaining salt and pepper that you have left over in the shallow plate.
- Pour a couple of Tbsp of Olive oil and mix them well.
- Place the potatoes among the cracks of the vegetables in your baking tray and pour a generous amount of olive oil on top of all the vegetables.
- Massage the vegetables one by one with olive oil to make sure each and every one has a nice coating of olive oil (This is an important step because it helps the vegetables bake to perfection).
- Sprinkle a few pinches of toasted bread crumbs on top of every vegetable (optional step).
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200C / 390F for 1 hour.
- Take it out of the oven, cover the baking tray with aluminum foil, and bake for another 15 minutes covered.
- The perfectly baked Gemista is ready. Serve them with feta cheese and enjoy!
Instructions with sauteing the rice:
- Finely chop the onions, mince the garlic, and wash all the vegetables.
- Cut the top from the tomatoes and peppers, which you will use as a lid.
- Empty the tomatoes with a teaspoon, add their insides to a separate bowl and finely chop them.
- Cut the zucchini in half and from each half cut a thin slice that we will use as a lid.
- Empty the zucchini with the special tool, or with the back of a teaspoon, add their insides to a separate bowl, and finely chop them.
- Empty the peppers with a spoon and discard their inside seeds.
- Wash the rice well, by changing 3 waters.
- Saute the chopped onion over high heat with 3 Tbsp olive oil and then add the rice, salt, and pepper sautéing them all together for 2-3 minutes.
- Grate the carrots and add them in a large bowl together with the chopped parsley, dill, crushed garlic, the inside of the tomatoes and the insides of the zucchini finely chopped, the spearmint, salt, pepper, and the sautéed rice.
- Mix well all the ingredients.
- Add 2 pinches of salt and pepper to a small plate and mix them.
- Dip your index finger in water and tap it on top of the plate with the salt and pepper so that it sticks to your finger.
- Use your finger to season the insides of the vegetables with a circular movement, and then add the filling.
- Cut the potatoes into wedges.
- Season the potatoes with salt and pepper, add olive oil, and mix them well.
- Toss them in the baking tray or hide them in between the stuffed vegetables.
- Pour in the pan a generous amount of Olive oil and massage all the vegetables so they get a nice coating.
- Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of every vegetable (optional).
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200C / 390F for about 1 hour.
- Serve them with Feta cheese and enjoy!
Notes:
- The rice needs good washing because by doing so we get rid of the conservatives that are added while packaging it.
- If you do not sauté the rice, then you might need to use aluminum foil to cover the entire tray after the vegetables have been cooked on the outside. 15 minutes are enough to cook the rice.
- There is no need to add any water to bake them.
Update 15 August 2023
- Recipes, Greek Traditional, Vegan
- carrots, dill, garlic, green bell pepper, olive oil, parsley, potatoes, rice, spearmint, tomatoes, zucchini
- MEAL: Lunch
- COURSE: Main
- CUISINE: Greek Traditional
- Recipe by: Christine Karagianni
Did you make this recipe? Or are you planning to make it? Let me know in the comments below, tag me on Instagram @freshpiato or show me your photos on Pinterest!
