Stella’s Yemista
Stella’s Yemista
This is a beautiful family recipe of yellow capsicum filled with so much goodness and bursting with so much yumminess.
It’s my mother-in-law’s recipe with a few tweaks from me to amp up the flavour. Herby, sweet and nutty – there’s a whole lottta good goin’ on!!!!
My mother-in-law usually cooks them on the stovetop, but I prefer to bake them to draw out more of the sweetness from the capsicum.
They are best served at room temperature 6 – 8 hours after baking, that way all the flavours have developed and harmonised perfectly. You can eat them straight out of the oven too, but make enough to have the best leftovers.
Stella's Yemista is a beautiful family recipe of yellow capsicum filled with so much goodness and bursting with so much yumminess. It's my mother-in-law's recipe with a few tweaks from me to amp up the flavour. Herby, sweet and nutty - there's a whole lottta good goin' on!
Ingredients
• 80 g pine nuts
• 250 ml extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 3 large onions or 4 medium onions, finely diced (approximately 750g diced brown onions)
• 80 g blackcurrants
• 350 g medium grain rice
• 2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tbs salt
• 330 ml water x 2
• Approximately 50g mint leaves, finely chopped
• Approximately 140g dill fronds and tender stalks, finely chopped
• Approximately 130g parsley leaves and tender stalks, finely chopped
• 8-10 medium yellow capsicum (bell peppers)
Instructions
Preparing the filling
o Add the oil and the pine nuts to a large pot
o Heat on medium-high heat till the pine nuts begin to brown
o Add the onions and sauté them until translucent
o Add the blackcurrants, rice, salt and pepper
o Stir through 330ml of water and cook it all off
o Remove the pot from the heat and stir through all the herbs
Preparing the yemista
o Cut out the stalk, along with a little surrounding flesh, from the top of the capsicums and remove the seeds and veins from the capsicums. Retain the capsicum lids.
o Remove the lid from each capsicum in turn and lightly spoon the filling mixture into the capsicum (do not press down on the filling and overfill the capsicum, as the rice needs room to expand). Replace the lid on the capsicum.
o Place the capsicum (preferably sitting upright) in a medium to large baking dish
o Continue to fill all the capsicums and add them to the baking dish
o Add 330ml water to the baking dish
o Cover with slightly vented foil and bake for 1 hour at 200°C fan-forced
o Remove the foil and bake for a further 15-20 minutes, until all the water in the pan has cooked off and the yemista have browned a little
Serving the yemista
o Allow the yemista to cool and rest for at least 6 - 8 hours
o Transfer the yemista to a serving platter with raised edges
o Remove the lids from the yemista and spoon some of the olive oil from the baking dish into each of the yemista
o Serve as a main dish or as a side to your preferred meat dish, with or without Greek yoghurt
o Kali Orexi!
Key Points
The weights of the herbs were taken after they were washed. The water does add weight.
