Stuffed Tomatoes with Cottage Cheese

Whenever I go to any trip, nonavailability of good vegetarian food brings my energy levels down. When  in France, I literally survived on Stale Tomato n Cheese Sandwiches and Nutella Crepes ( I dont like French Fries which were in abundance btw ). There was ACTUALLY nothing to eat, although I admit I didnt search in posh restaurants and high end cafes which might have good range to offer. But nothing that good in road side shops and small sized cafes. After that trip, I have got very careful in doing my  bit of research before entering any new Country for a trip.

Anyways, the usuals I get mostly everywhere specially in Europe are Roasted vegetables, baby potatoes and stuffed tomatoes. And although I have got bored of having them many times, I love making stuffed vegetables at home. Usually I do mashed potatoes and cheese for stuffings, this time I adopted a different recipe. While surfing through Vaishali's blog ''Ribbons to Pasta'' ( Love the name ! ), I got this Tomato Paneer Salad recipe which I loved instantly. And though I keep on bookmarking her recipes quite a lot, I chose this one for Blog Hop due to its simplicity and again , my love for stuffed veggies. I had never stuffed Paneer into any of my ventures before. This was a perfect opportunity for trial, which came out wonderfully. Vaishali had not baked her dish, but I did. simply because S doesnt like the raw tomatoes. It was good either ways though .. 

I didnt have bell peppers at home so havent used them, but adding them will make this recipe more flavourful and colorful too off course.

Ingredients:

• 6-7 large tomatoes
• 1 cup freshly made Paneer  ( cottage Cheese )
• 1/2 cup chopped Spring onions
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
•  A pinch of Asafoetida 
• 1 small onion, chopped small ( optional )
• 1 tsp Lemon juice 
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes 
• Salt to taste 
• 1 tsp Black pepper 
• few sprigs of coriander, chopped

Method:

• Mix all the above except tomatoes and mash together to form a smooth mixture
• Scoop all the tomatoes and fill with the stuffing. 
• Cut from the bottom too, just a bit. This will help in let them stand firm. 
• Bake on 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Serve hot as a side dish or appetiser. 

Notes:

• Do not forget the cut the tomatoes from bottom. Else they will keep on toppling over while baking. 
• You can add bell peppers, chopped onion into this.
• I included the scooped tomato part also in the mixture, which gave it sour taste and moist texture.
• You can also add 1/2 cup of mashed potato to this. 

Off to this month's Blog Hop Wednesday by Radhika.