Stuffed vegetables are some of the more common middle-eastern home cooked meals. The basic ingredient of all stuffed vegetables is rice, and the rest of the ingredients vary quite a lot. Some dishes are vegetarian (vegan actually), and some contain meat (mostly lamb, beef, or a mixture of the two). When it comes to stuffed vegetables, each family has their own variation. There are so many different types and flavors, and so in this instructable I'll show you how to cook my take on stuffed vegetables. It happens to be vegan, mostly because there's no need for meat! I like it as is. However, feel free you add meat if you want (I'd add ground beef mixed with some lamb fat).

I made a short video (55 seconds) to give you an overview of the process, you should watch it before reading further, everything will make much more sense.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know in the comments section :)

Time: 2 hours. Net work time: about 30 minutes.

Supplies

You'll need Vegetables to stuff. Some of the more common vegetables used are peppers, tomatoes, onions, grape leaves, cabbage leaves, mini eggplants and zucchini.

To stuff 6-8 medium sized peppers (or an equivalent volume) you'll need:

Green lentils (1 cup, dried).
Carrots (3 medium-sized units).
Beet (1 medium-sized unit).
Tomatoes (2 units)
Pine nuts (about 100g / 3.5 oz).
Cumin (1 tsp).
Salt (2.5 tsp).
Black pepper (1/2 tsp).
Rice (1 cup).
Olive oil.

Kitchen Accessories:

You'll need a large cooking pan / skillet with a lid that can fit all of the vegetables you're planning on filling. If you don't have one, you can use a large pot and stack the vegetables on each other.

Optional - simple tomato sauce

I like pouring some tomato sauce over the stuffed vegetables. I make a simple tomato pasta sauce with extra water, salt, and some chili peppers (you don't have to make it spicy if you don't want to!). I think it's a really nice and easy addition.

Step 1: Semi-cook the Lentils

We will start with preparing everything we need for the stuffing. The green lentils need to be cooked before added to the mixture, so we'll start with that.

Cook the green lentils in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes. They should soften, but not be fully cooked.
Set a timer and move on to the next steps, you can do them in parallel, but don't forge to stop cooking before the lentils are over-cooked.
Once the lentils are half-cooked, stop cooking and pour away the water.

Step 2: Roast Pine Nuts

Next up is pine nuts. Roasting the pine nuts makes them crispier and gives them a rich flavor.

Heat a pan on a medium flame. No need to oil to pan.
Roast the pine nuts until they turn golden-brown (1-3 minutes).
Taste! These are delicious!

Step 3: Shred Carrots, Beet and Tomatoes

Peel the carrots and beet.
Use a grater to shred the carrots and beet into thin strips.
Shred the tomatoes. Try to not to shred the tomato skin (we have no use for it).

Step 4: Mix the Stuffing

Alright, all of the ingredients for the stuffing are ready! Time to mix :)

I like washing the rice a few times before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. I put in in a bowl and wash it over and over until the water is not longer murky. In image #2 you can rice in murky water. This disappears after a couple of washes.
In a large bowl, mix the shredded vegetables, green lentils, roasted pine nuts, spices and rice.
Add some olive oil.

Step 5: Prepare the Vegetables for Stuffing

We need to empty the vegetables so we could stuff them.

Slice the vegetables open. The incision should be at the top part of vegetable so we have a lot of room for the filling (see first image). We have no use for the caps.
Remove the inside of the vegetable. I use an ice-cream scoop to empty tomatoes and similar vegetables. For zucchini, you can insert a dull knife and spin it inside, that'll empty it (see images 2-5).
If you'd like to fill grape leaves, most people cook them in boiling water for a couple of minutes before filling them. That way they're not chewy when we eat them. I also try to remove their stems because those are annoying to have in your mouth.

Step 6: Stuff the Vegetables

We reached the fun part! Stuffing the vegetables.

Begin stuffing the vegetables. Fill only 3/4 of the available volume. The rice soaks liquids and swells during the cooking step, and it will overflow (GIF #1).

To fill grape leaves (GIF #2):

Lay a grape leaf so it's light side is facing up (the side that wasn't facing the son).
Put about 2 spoons of stuffing on a grape leaf, right next to where the stem used to be.
Fold the sides of the grape leaf onto the stuffing, and roll the grape leaf along it's major axis (from the stem towards its furthest vertex.
Once rolled, give it a gentle squeeze to keep it in place.

Step 7: Cook

Heat a large pan.
Oil the pan.
Lay the vegetables on the heated pan.
Pour boiling water (cover the vegetables about half way).
Cook with the lid closed.

This is important so I excluded it from the list above: make sure there's always water in the pan. Every 10 minutes or so check the pan and make sure there's enough boiling water. Also - water the stuffed vegetables! Use a ladle to pour water into each one of the stuffed vegetables. If you don't you'll have to wait for the rice to absorb water through steam alone, which takes ages, and you might still have uncooked rice in the center of the vegetables. I like watering the vegetables with tomato sauce mixed with water, which I'll describe in the optional step below.

Keep cooking until the rice becomes swollen and soft. You're better off over-cooking these than under-cooking! under-cooked rice is the worst. Cooking takes about 45 minutes, depending on what type of rice you're using. Start checking if it's ready after about 30 minutes.
Once cooked, turn of the heat and let the dish rest for a while. This allows everything to gain it's final form, so it doesn't break apart when you try to serve people. Also, I like eating the vegetables while they're warm but not boiling-hot, so letting them rest serves both goals.

Step 8: Tomato Sauce (Optional)

In the previous step I mentioned that you should water the vegetables. That's a very important step!

Personally, I like using tomato sauce instead of boiling water. I make simple tomato pasta source but I make it extra thin by adding water. I also add some salt and chili peppers (you don't have to make it spicy). Pour the sauce on top of the open vegetables. The boiling water in the pot will turn into sort of a sauce too, so when you come back to water the vegetables while cooking, it'll add some tomato flavor to the dish.

Step 9: Enjoy!

That's it! You're all done cooking! Serve with a slice of lemon so people can squeeze some lemon juice on their dish. You wouldn't believe how tasty it is with the extra lemon!

I hope you make your own stuffed vegetables and enjoy them! I made these so many times and I keep making more.