Koupepia
Stuffed vine leaves
Gemista — ‘stuffed vegetables’ — is one of the most delicious dishes of Cypriot cuisine, and it gives you the opportunity to use up any extra tomatoes, peppers or any vegetable in your fridge that can be stuffed.
Many households choose the vegetarian version of the dish, but in our version we use minced meat to stuff the veg.
Wash and cut open the vegetables from their top side — keep the little vegetable ‘hats’, as they will be used later to top the stuffed veg. Use a spoon to take out the insides of the tomatoes and keep it for the minced meat mixture.
Place the peppers and tomatoes in a baking tray.
In a bowl add all the ingredients: the ground meat, the chopped onion, parsley, salt, pepper, the olive oil, the rice, lemon juice, tomato juice, the vegetable stock, dried mint and the insides of the tomatoes. Mix the ingredients really well.
Fill in the peppers and tomatoes — a little more than three-quarters full, because the rice will expand while cooking. Add some potatoes, peeled and chopped into slices, between the vegetables if you want.
Place the veg hats over your vegetables. Pour over the water, some extra tomato juice — about ½ a cup — salt and olive oil, and bake at 180°C in a preheated fan oven for about an hour and a half.
Serve them straight from the tray, with the roasting juices and the potatoes that cooked between them.
Stuffed vine leaves
Simple, vegetarian, hearty
Spinach rice