Greek Gemista (stuffed red peppers)

When we went to the Greek islands of Cyclades four years back for our honeymoon, we didn't really expect to eat much Greek food there. European countries aren't exactly famous for their vegetarian! It was understood that we'd mostly be surviving on Italian (pizzas mainly), as is the case for most of the places we travel to. So the major part of our holiday went by eating pizzas, a Greek item (typically an appetizer) here or there, and lots of awesome feta cheese at breakfast. The feta was, of course, out of the world!

So imagine our surprise and good luck that just 2 days before leaving, we found ourselves walking past a restaurant that had a completely vegetarian Greek menu on display! In we went without a second thought!  Fava, dolmades, moussaka, gemista, halvas......a real Greek meal that was simply divine. And thus happened one of the best dinners of my life! I have been a Greek food lover ever since. I am so glad that we found that place. It would have been a real shame to have left Greece without enjoying an authentic Greek meal! Of course, we went back again the next evening! :)

Gemista is one of my all-time favorite Greek dishes to make at home. Full of flavor, they are basically stuffed vegetables like zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant. I used red bell peppers here, but you could use any other vegetable with the same stuffing. You could also add other vegetables in the stuffing, but I prefered to keep it simple so all the flavors could come through. I found two nice Gemista recipes online (this and this), and kind of followed a mix of them as my recipe.

For 4 stuffed bell peppers:

4 red bell peppers

2 onions, finely chopped

2 big cloves garlic, minced

a small bunch fresh parsley, chopped

a small bunch fresh mint, chopped

1 tbsp raisins

1 tbsp pine nuts (shelled)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup rice

2 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

salt

pepper

Start by cutting the tops of the peppers keeping the stem intact. Remove the seeds and the extra white bit carefully. Lightly sprinkle some salt and pepper on the insides of the peppers. Set aside. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C. 

Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the onion and garlic until they are soft and start turning brown. Add the rice and stir until properly coated. Add the raisins, pine nuts, and 1 cup of water. Cook for about 8-10 minutes such that the rice is half-cooked as they will cook a little bit more inside the peppers as well. Add salt, pepper, feta, and the chopped herbs. Mix well. 

Stuff the peppers upto 3/4th of their capacity with the rice mixture. Put the caps back on and place in a baking tray drizzled with some extra olive oil. Reduce heat to 180 degrees and bake for 1 hour. Serve hot or cold.