Growing up, my mum always stuffed vegetables with a rice and beef mixture. In Greek, we call a dish like this yemista, which means filled/stuffed. We usually stuff a variety of vegetables, such as peppers, zucchini, eggplants, tomatoes and onions. Well, onions were always my favourite and now I love to make a big pan of them. I have given one of my favourite childhood recipes a vegetarian/vegan twist by substituting lentils for beef. A wonderful dish during lent as well. I use an  Italian style rice which is a short grain rice not arborio which is for risotto. You can also substitute long grain rice as well. They make for a delicious meal served with a side salad or make a perfect side dish for meat or fish. 

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do!

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Cypriot Lentils and Rice Baked Stuffed Onions

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Cypriot, Greek

Yield: 5 – 6 people

Materials

• 3 large cooking onions
• 2 – 540 mL 19 fl oz can green lentils, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 1/2 cup short grain or long grain white rice
• 1 cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley with stem finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cup tomato puree
• Zest and juice of 1 medium lemon about 1/4 cup lemon
• 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp dry mint
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube or 1 tbsp vegetable paste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Peel onions and cut off bottom and tops. With a pairing knife make a slice along the side of the onion lengthwise right through to the centre. Carefully peel each layer, ensuring you keep the onion layers intact, about 5-6 layers from each onion.
• Finely chop 1 cup of the leftover centre pieces of the onions and set aside. Any lefter over can be saved for other recipes or you can just tuck the pieces in to cook.
• In a large bowl add lentils, chopped onions, rice, parsley, tomato, dried mint, cumin, lemon juice and zest, 3 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper, mix well. Stuff each onion with lentil mixture ensuring you seal the cut side by overlaying the open sides of onion. Place them cut side down in a baking dish large enough for all of the to fit in snug, so the onions stay closed. I used an 9′ inch round dish with lid. Dilute bouillon in warm water and pour over onions. Drizzle onions with remaining 3 tbsp of oil.
• Cover with lid and place in preheated oven and bake for 50-60 mins or until onions have softened and rice has cooked.
• Remove lid and increase oven to broil. Bake for an additional 5-7 mins until vegetables are golden and slightly charred. Turn off oven, cover and let stand for 20 mins until most of the juices have absorbed.
• Place on platter and spoon over any leftover pan juices.