Vegan Stuffed Veggies in Tomato Sauce Recipe

You might have figured out by now how much we enjoy stuffed food in the Lebanese Cuisine. I can name a long list of our dishes that require stuffing. Grape Leaves and Cabbage are not the only one.

Stuffed Zucchini, for example, comes in the form of various dishes, be it cooked in Yogurt or in Tomato Sauce or in the Lemony Sauce of Stuffed Grape Leaves.

And they are all yummy!

This dish today is culturally known us Mehshi Qate’h, which translation is mainly an indicative insinuation of meatless dish for Lent.

In a clearer way, it pretty much nicknames the culinary preparation of various vegetables stuffed with Vegan filling.

Basically and traditionally, it is composed of Zucchinis, Eggplants and Green Pepper, in their smallest sizes. The stuffing is a mixture of rice, tomato, onion, and parsley, seasoned with dry mint, white pepper, salt & pepper, and fragrantly enhanced with lemon juice and olive oil. Adopted from Easy Lebanese Recipes.

Servings 5
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1h 5 minutes

Ingredients

Veggies to Stuff

1 Kg Eggplant very small; halved
1 Kg Green Zucchini very small; halved
2 Green pepper (small) halved

For the Stuffing

1/2 cup Rice washed and sieved
400 gr Tomatoes in can cut small
2 Onions (medium)
1 bunch Fresh parsley Chopped finely
1 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp dry mint
1/2 tsp White Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
200 gr Tomatoe sauce

Instructions

1. Mix well all the stuffing ingredients.Stuff 3/4 of each vegetable with the mixture. Arrange them in a deep stew pan.
2. In a small bowl, pour the liquid of the mixture through a sieve, and mix it with the tomato sauce.
3. Pour the tomato sauce over the stuffed veggie to saturation. Add water if necessary. Place the casserole over high heat, with a heavy plate over the vegetables to hold them still.
4. NOTE: I usually use a dessert plate and hold it still with a half cup of water on its top center.
5. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and leave it to simmer for 1h.

Serving

1. Serve hot at once, or leave it to cool well then serve.
2. If you are receiving guests, remove carefully each veggie and place it one by one on a deep serving plate, preferably a glass one. Use your creativity to arrange them in an appealing way.
3. For instance, have the stuffed green peppers on both sides of the plate, the eggplants in the center and the zucchini surrounding these.