Gemista
A Greek summer dish from the ladera category — foods cooked in olive oil and eaten at room temperature. The rice goes in almost raw, filling the vegetables only three-quarters full, because it swells a lot in the oven; filled to the brim they split. The second condition is the tomato pulp: it is never discarded but blended and returned to the filling — it is what cooks the rice from within.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Hollowing the vegetables 25 min
- Filling 25 min
- Baking 75 min
- Cooling 20 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneHollow the tomatoes, keep the pulp
Cut the tops off the tomatoes as lids and scoop out the pulp into a bowl, leaving a 5 mm wall. Thinner and it splits in the oven. Cut the tops off the peppers as lids and remove the seed cores. If using courgettes, halve them lengthways, scoop them into boats with a teaspoon, chop the scooped flesh and add it to the tomato pulp.
Ingredients: 6 pcs tomatoes · 4 pcs peppers · 500 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes
A 5 mm wall and the lid saved — the pulp goes into the filling.Salt them and turn them upside down
Salt the insides of the tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar to each and stand them upside down for 15 minutes. Excess water drains out that would otherwise thin the filling. The sugar balances the acidity in a dish eaten cold.
Ingredients: 6 pcs tomatoes · 4 pcs peppers · 500 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes
Blend the pulp smooth
Blend the collected tomato pulp into a smooth juice. It is what cooks the rice inside the vegetables — without it you would have to add water, and the filling turns bland.
Ingredients: 6 pcs tomatoes · 4 pcs peppers · 500 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes
Soften the onion and mix with the rice
Cook the onion with the garlic in the oil for 10 minutes without browning, add the raw rice and fry 2 minutes. Pour in half the tomato juice, season and cook 5 minutes until absorbed. The rice must stay clearly undercooked.
Ingredients: 300 g rice · 3 pcs onions · 4 cloves garlic · 1 bunch parsley · ½ bunch mint · ½ bunch dill · 150 ml olive oil · 2 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
Fold in the herbs by the handful
Take off the heat and stir in a whole bunch of parsley and half a bunch each of mint and dill, chopped. The quantity looks absurd — that is correct. In gemista the herbs are an ingredient rather than a seasoning, and they lose a good deal of their aroma in the oven.
Ingredients: 300 g rice · 3 pcs onions · 4 cloves garlic · 1 bunch parsley · ½ bunch mint · ½ bunch dill · 150 ml olive oil · 2 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
A whole bunch of parsley — herbs are an ingredient here.Fill the vegetables three-quarters full
Fill the tomatoes and peppers (and the courgette boats) only three-quarters of the way and replace the lids. The rice swells a lot — filled to the brim it bursts the vegetable and the filling escapes into the tin.
Ingredients: 300 g rice · 3 pcs onions · 4 cloves garlic · 1 bunch parsley · ½ bunch mint · ½ bunch dill · 150 ml olive oil · 2 tsp sugar · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
Three-quarters, no more — the rice will still swell.Pack them in with potatoes and dress
Heat the oven to 180°C. Stand the vegetables tightly side by side in a roasting tin, wedge the potato pieces into the gaps, season them with a pinch of salt and pour over the rest of the tomato juice and the hot water. The potatoes are not a garnish — they prop the vegetables up and soak up escaping sauce.
Ingredients: 250 ml water · 3 tbsp breadcrumbs · 4 tbsp olive oil
Bake 75 minutes and cool before serving
Scatter with breadcrumbs, drizzle with oil and bake 75 minutes at 180°C, until the tops brown and the rice is tender. Cool 20 minutes — gemista tastes best warm or at room temperature; straight from the oven the flavour is duller and the filling scalding.
Ingredients: 250 ml water · 3 tbsp breadcrumbs · 4 tbsp olive oil
Before you start
The quantity of oil is not a mistake
A hundred and fifty millilitres for six portions looks alarming, but gemista belongs to the ladera category — dishes cooked in olive oil. Reducing it gives dry rice and dull vegetables. The oil is the sauce here.
Short, squat vegetables
Choose low, wide peppers rather than long ones — they stand steadily and bake evenly. The tomatoes must be firm and slightly underripe; soft ones collapse after an hour and the filling runs out.
Three days in the fridge
Gemista is better the next day, as the herbs and oil move into the rice. It keeps three days. Take it out an hour before serving — cold oil sets, and straight from the fridge the dish loses its aroma.
