Tomatoes Stuffed (Greek Style)
From All-Creatures.org Vegan Recipe Book: How Mary and Frank and Friends Eat

"We are dedicated to cruelty-free living through a vegan lifestyle. Let no animal suffer or die that we may live!"

Ingredients

12 Tomatoes, ripe
2 cups Brown Rice, uncooked grain
4 cups Water or juice from tomatoes
2 Onions, medium size
2 tsp. Spearmint Leaves, dried
2 tsp. Oregano, dried
1 cup Parsley fresh, chopped, or 2 tbsp. Parsley, dried
1 - 6-oz. cans Tomato Paste
Hot Sauce (optional - to taste)

(To enlarge the photo of the Tomatoes Stuffed (Greek Style), click on the photo or link)

Preparation

Tomatoes stuffed (Greek style) is a delicious vegan recipe that will serve about 6 adults as a main meal, and takes about 45 minutes to prepare and about 20 minutes to cook in a microwave oven.

We begin by washing the tomatoes and carefully cutting off the stem ends and hollowing out the insides without damaging the outer skin and flesh of the tomatoes. Finely dice or puree the tomatoes from the inside of the tomatoes and place firmly in a measuring cup. (You will need a total of 4 cups of the tomatoes and water for cooking the rice)

Place the rice pot on the stove top with the 4 cups of water and tomatoes. Then we turn on the heat to high to boil the water.

While the water is heating, we measure the rice (for this recipe, we usually mound the rice in our measuring cup, so it's a little more than 1 cup), and place it in a bowl. To the rice we add the mint, oregano, and parsley (if dried is used). If fresh parsley is used, wash and chop it. Next, we wash, peel, and dice the onions. When the water comes to a boil, we add the rice, herbs, and onions to the rice pot, cover, and reduce the heat to simmer.

While the rice is cooking, we place the hollowed out tomatoes in a large covered microwaveable baking dish (if necessary use additional covered dishes), and place the tomatoes in the microwave oven to precook until they begin to soften but still hold their shape.

When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the stove top. Add the tomato paste to the rice, and the hot sauce, as desired (traditional Greek recipes would most likely use black pepper instead). Mix well.

Add the rice stuffing to the precooked tomato shells without compacting until all the tomatoes are filled, then gently pack the stuffing in each tomatoe and add more stuffing until it is slightly mounded on top, and place back into the microwave oven for final cooking.

It takes about one and a half to two minutes to cook each stuffed tomatoe, so multiply by the number of tomatoe in the covered dish and cook for that time (i.e. 6 stuffed tomatoes would take between 9 and 12 minutes to cook).

To remove a cooked stuffed tomato from the baking dish, gently slide a spoon under the tomato and placed two of them on a plate for an adult serving, there will be some liquid remaining in the bottom of the dish.  We carefully spoon the liquid into the stuffed tomatoes before serving.

We have found that the flavor of the stuffed tomatoes is even better the next day, so we always bake more for the next day or two, which also saves us cooking time.

Serve with a large tossed salad and enjoy!

Ingredients Information

Onions, Yellow

Oregano, Dried

Parsley

Parsley, Dried

Pepper - Hot Red, ground (Cayenne)

Peppermint Leaves, Dried

Pepper Sauce - Hot Red

Rice, Brown

Spearmint Leaves, Dried

Tomatoes

Tomato Paste

Utensils and Equipment Information

Dish, Ceramic Baking

Dish, Glass Baking

Food Processor

Knives

Measuring Cups, Dry

Measuring Cup, Liquid

Measuring Spoons

Microwave Oven

Spoon, Large Mixing

Vita-Mix

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The above recipe is in keeping with God's creation intent (Genesis 1:29-31): 'Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.' (NIV) Let no animal suffer or die that we may live!