This recipe for Vegetarian Pepinos Rellenos (Stuffed Pepinos), with rice, vegetables and cheese, cooked in a creamy white sauce, makes a complete and satisfying meal.
Esta receta también está disponible en Español.
Pepinos
The main ingredient for this dish is the fruit of a plant called cyclanthera pedata. The fruit, generally eaten as a vegetable, is known under the names caigua and archuchas. Most Colombians know it by the name “pepino para rellenar“, which translates to the English name: stuffing cucumber. The fruit is green and curved. On the inside it is practically empty, only containing some seeds, which makes this fruit/vegetable so perfect to stuff. They are quite different to normal cucumbers in taste and structure. Therefore I will not translate them as cucumbers in this blogpost, as to avoid confusion. Pepinos para rellenar are originally from the Andes Mountains, and are not easy to find outside of some Latin American countries. You can eat them sliced into pieces, or stuffed like in this recipe.
The stuffing
Pepinos rellenos (Stuffed Pepinos) are traditionally stuffed with a mixture of rice, vegetables, and a animal protein like ground beef. After that you either boil them in water (packed in tin foil), cook them in a pan, or in the oven. You can serve them just as they are, with a creamy sauce (en chupe) or with tomato sauce. Because they contain vegetables, rice and protein they are considered a complete meal.
Looking for other Colombian recipes? Click here for more vegetarian dinner ideas!
Vegetarian Pepinos Rellenos (Stuffed Pepinos)
I have good memories of this dish, because it was my very first meal in Colombia. My mother-in-law, a bit stressed cooking for a vegetarian, made a version of vegetarian pepinos rellenos on the night I arrived and met all my in-laws. Since then I’ve been cooking them myself, with different ingredients. This is my favorite version. These pepinos contain a stuffing of: white rice, hogao (Tomato Onion Sauce), red pepper, potatoes and cheese. My test-taster-boyfriend was appalled by the addition of cheese (can’t. mix. rice. and. cheese.) and requested eggs instead. I have never seen a sadder face when my pepino came out beautifully golden because of the gratinated cheese. The saltiness of the cheese also adds a necessary flavor to this dish, considering most of the ingredients can be a bit bland.
Pepinos para rellenar en chupe
Traditional Colombian cooking knows a way of preparing vegetables in a mixture of milk and cream, which is called en chupe. I have eaten chopped up pepinos para rellenar cooked en chupe. But I had not seen before that the stuffed pepino was cooked in mixture of milk and cream. I took the inspiration to cook this vegetarian pepino from a resource that has become indispensable for me. It is a recipe from a book called “Técnicas profesionales de cocina Colombiana” from Carlos Gaviria Arbeláez. Although he prepares the pepino with a different filling, he inspired me to cook the pepino en chupe. I have an absolute hate for dry food and cooking the pepino relleno in this white sauce adds a great deal of creaminess, that combines heavenly with the cheese on top.
Oven or pot or pan
There are different ways of cooking the pepinos rellenos. One way is too pre-boil them in water, stuff them, and continue cooking in the oven. Another option if stuffing them and cooking them in a sauté pan (stovetop). I must admit that I do not have pots and pans big enough to go for these options. That is why I cook my stuffed pepinos in a deep oven dish in the oven. The pepinos need quite some time to become soft, so if you do have pots big enough, pre-boiling can reduce the cooking time by half. It might seem like a long preparation time, but that has to do with the 75 minute cooking time in the oven.
How to prepare Vegetarian Pepinos Rellenos (Stuffed Pepinos)
1.Clean the pepinos. Take out the seeds by cutting open the pepino on top, from one side to the other. Use a spoon to take out other hairy bits. If the pepinos have a lot of hard bits/spikes on top, cut them off with a knife.
2.Prepare your stuffing. You will need boiled white rice, boiled potatoes diced in cubes, sautéed red pepper, hogao or diced tomato and (green) onion, and grated cheese. I use a Colombian salty cheese that is called queso costeno, but mozarella, white cheese or parmezan cheese will do as well. Mix rice, potatoes, pepper, hogao and half of the cheese.
3.Stuff your pepinos.
4.Mix milk, cream and hogao in a deep oven dish. Place the pepinos rellenos in the white sauce, sprinkle with leftover cheese.
5.Cook for 75 minutes on 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit). After 30 minutes cover with tin foil.
6.Take of the skin of the milk sauce before serving. Serve hot, with ají picante, or with a side salad.
How to replace ingredients
It is not easy to find pepinos para rellenar outside Colombia. Maybe they are available in other Latin American countries, but they are not widely available in Europe or the US. I can’t think of a good replacement of pepino para rellenar. Of course you can use this stuffing with many other vegetables like red peppers or zucchini, but it won’t have a similar taste nor structure. The queso costeno you can replace for a cheese of your choice.
Do you love Colombian food? Find more vegetarian recipes here!
Vegetarian Pepinos Rellenos (Stuffed Pepinos)
Ingredients
- 2 pepinos para rellenar (also called caigua, archuchas in Spanish or stuffing cucumber in English)
Stuffing
- 200 gram boiled white rice
- 3 medium sized potatoes, boiled and diced into small cubes
- 1 red pepper, diced in cubes and sautéed
- 3 tbsp hogao (recipe in blogpost) or replace by adding tomato and green onion
- 100 gram queso costeño or other cheese of choice, grated
- salt and pepper to taste
White sauce (chupe)
- 300 ml milk
- 250 ml cream
- 1 tbsp hogao (see link in blogpost)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit)
- Clean pepinos. Cut them open on top, from one side to the other. Cut some of the flesh out so it leaves an opening to fill the pepino. Take out the branch with its black seeds. Remove hairy bits from the inside with a spoon
- Mix boiled rice, boiled cubes of potato, sautéed pepper, the hogao and half of the cheese in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper
- In a deep oven dish big enough to fit the pepinos, mix ingredients for the white sauce (chupe)
- Stuff pepinos all the way with the filling. Cover with the remaining cheese. Place stuffed pepinos in the oven dish
- Place in oven at 200 degrees Celsius. After 30 minutes cover with tin foil. Continue cooking for another 45 minutes. The pepinos are done when the cheese has turned golden, the pepinos are soft, and the sauce is bubbly
- If the sauce formed a skin, remove this layer. Serve warm, with ají picante (link in blogpost) or with a side salad
