Yiayia’s Yemista Recipe

For a country of bonafide meat lovers, Greek cuisine features a lot of vegetarian, and even vegan, recipes! One of these wonderful vegan recipes is the classic dish yemista (γεμιστά), meaning “stuffed” in Greek due to the fact that you stuff the vegetables with the rice mixture...and then you stuff yourself with the yemista!

I have such fond memories of my yiayia (grandmother) making us her famous yemista. My sister and I would be enlisted to help out with the glamorous task of hollowing out the vegetables. The wonderful aromas would waft through the house on a summer’s day, tempting us to bravely attempt to sneak into the kitchen without yiayia seeing us and steal one of the sacred potatoes.

To this day, whenever I cook this recipe, it reminds me of those two mischievous little girls, tiptoeing through the house Metal Gear Solid style, to reach our potato prize! But it was so worth the stealth operation. Don’t believe me? Try the recipe out for yourself.

Fresh, flavourful, and fragrant, yemista is sure to win you over!

Ingredients

Fore the yemista:

• A cup of olive oil (Greek is best, of course) plus a little extra to drizzle on top

• 2 large aubergines

• 4 beef tomatoes

• 3 green peppers

• 3 courgettes

• White onion, finely chopped

• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• 375g long grain rice, washed

• Bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped

• Bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped

• 1 tbsp tomato puree

• 1 tsp sugar

• Salt and pepper to taste

For the potatoes:

• 750g potatoes (any kind will do!)

• A good glug of olive oil

• 2 tsp mustard (Dijon will work well)

• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (probably more like 6, if we’re honest!)

• 2 tsp dried oregano

• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (fan). 

2. Wash all your veggies so they are nice and clean! Now, proceed to slice the tops off of the vegetables and hollow them out, transferring what you’ve hollowed out into a large bowl. I’ve found a teaspoon works best for this, just make sure you don’t pierce the skin of the vegetables as the mixture will leak out.

3. Add your hollowed out veggies to a large, deep, greased baking tray (the one I typically use is 25cm x 35cm) and season the inside of them with a little salt.

4. Next, take a grater and grate what you hollowed out from the vegetables so that there aren’t any large lumps. Be patient at this stage as it may take some time!

5. Finely chop your onion, garlic, parsley, and mint and add them to the bowl along with your long grain rice, tomato puree, olive oil, sugar, salt, and pepper...and mix it all up!

6. Now fill your veggies ¾ of the way up (the rice will expand when cooked and you don’t want them to overflow!) and pop the lids back on.

7. Peel your potatoes and cut them into long wedges and add them to a large bowl with the mustard, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and a good glug of oil. Get your hands in there and give it a good mix so the wedges are all evenly coated.

8. Add your potatoes to your baking tray vertically between the veggies.

9. Add 200ml of water to the baking tray and then drizzle a good amount of olive oil over everything.

10. Cover the baking tray in foil and cook for an hour.

11. Remove the foil, up-end/turn the potatoes vertically and cook for a further 20 minutes or so to ensure the liquids evaporate and it all takes on a lovely colour.

12. Serve up and enjoy! This dish also tastes great cold the next day.

Καλή όρεξη!

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Written by Vicky Balaktsoglou

Victorianna Balaktsoglou is a content marketer turned supply languages teacher based in Milton Keynes, but hailing from the much sunnier Athens, Greece. A keen linguist and craft enthusiast, she is passionate about body liberation, gender equality, all things creative, and good food.

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