Stuffed vegetables are delicious, nutritious, and very easy to make. Basically you can stuff almost any vegetable or fruit, here I will give the classic fillings for vegetables, but the technique is similar to any vegetable. Do not be afraid from the length of the recipe - it's because there are several types of fillings, but the preparation and cooking are so easy, it’s not clear enough why we don’t prepare stuffed vegetables every week!
Ingredients
- Round! Zucchini
- Large Onion
- Red Peppers
- 2/3 a cup Rice
- 1 Pound Ground Meat
- a bunch - chopped Cilantro
- As Needed Paprika
- As Needed Cumin
- As Needed Baharat
- A pinch Cinamon
- As Needed Salt
- As Needed Ground Black Pepper
- 28 Ounces canned Crushed Tomatoes
- From whole lemons Lemon Juice
- Teaspoon Sugar
- Canola Oil
Instructions
Preparing the filling
- Rinse the rice, drain and place in a bowl.
- Add the ground beef.
- Add the chopped coriander.
- Add the spices (paprika, cumin, Bharat, salt and pepper) to taste. It is not recommended to put a lot of Bharat, and just put a little cinnamon. It is designed to enhance flavors, not be felt too much.
- Mix everything nicely (with your hands of course!)
- That’s it, the filling is ready.
Preparing stuffed vegetables
- Stuffed peppers
- Using a knife remove the head of the pepper - and set aside.
- With your fingers, remove the insides and white stripes on the sides.
- Put the filling in the pepper - without pressing in too much, but it should be filled to the top.
- Cover with the head of the pepper.
Stuffed Zucchini
- Using a knife remove the head of the zucchini.
- With a Parisian scoop, empty the contents of the zucchini – there should remain about half cm of zucchini shell.
- Keep the contents of the zucchini we removed in a bowl - it will be used for the sauce.
- Fill the zucchini with the stuffing all the way - without pressing.
- Close with the head of the zucchini.
Stuffed Onions
- Take the onion - chopped his head and bottom - and make a vertical incision down the middle - place on a plate and place in the microwave for 4-5 minutes. (Or in boiling water for that time)
- After it cools a bit - separate the layers.
- We now make a kind of sausage onion filling - do not press.
- Place a layer at the beginning - and roll - not by force.
- Making the sauce
- Heat canola oil in the largest pot you have.
- When the oil is boiling - very carefully place in the crushed tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the zucchini contents previously emptied.
- Add salt, pepper and sugar.
- Stir and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
- Turn off the fire.
Cooking the Stuffed vegetables
- Fill the pot and make sure everything is very crowded - but not touching.
- Place the onions with the open part facing down (or to the side of the pot)
- The sauce should be as high as two-thirds filled. If missing - add a little water.
- Add the lemon juice carefully - but not in the stuffed vegetables – in the sauce.
- Cover the pot, turn on the fire - and bring to a boil.
- Now there are two options: the first - lower the heat and cook for an hour and a half. Second - (my favorite) to heat the oven to 200 degrees - put in an hour with the lid, and after an hour remove the lid to cook for another 20 minutes for browning.
- You made it! Your stuffed vegetables are ready. True, there are a lot of steps, but you must admit that it is easy to make!
- Serve over white rice or yellow rice or couscous, or on its own. Anything goes.
