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Tomato ladybirds
Tomatoes filled with a tuna mayonnaise and rice mixture, in a fun ladybird shape that kids will love, served with a puree of fresh garden peas. A good way to encourage them to eat vegetables.
Last modified on: October 21th 2026
For 6 tomatoes, you will need:
- 1
6 tomatoes - 2
Fine (or table) salt - 3
200 g peas - 4
3 tablespoons olive oil - 5
1 tablespoon lemon juice - 6
2 radishes - 7
3 tablespoons mayonnaise - 8
50 g tuna in oil - 9
50 g cooked rice - 10
1 bunch chives - 11
10 blacks olives - 12 Salt
- 13
Pepper - Total weight: 1,135 grams
Times for this recipe
Preparation
1 hour 40 min.
Cooking
10 min.
All in all
1 hour 50 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
If you start now, at , you will finish around: ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time
Step by step recipe
Step 1 - ⌛ 30 min.
Step 2 - ⌛ 5 min.
Remove flesh inside tomatoes with a teaspoon or a pommes parisiennes spoon (easier), and keep all that you remove.
Step 3 - ⌛ 3 min.
Step 4 - ⌛ 5 min.
Dispcard tomato seeds, keeping the flesh and cut off pieces (minus hard green stalk end), chop roughly, salt and leave to stand in a strainer.
Step 5 - ⌛ 10 min.
Boil a pan of salted water, put in 200 g peas and cook until soft (2 or 3 minutes usually).
Remove from pan, drain and put into cold water. Drain again when peas are cold, then dry.
Remove from pan, drain and put into cold water. Drain again when peas are cold, then dry.
Step 6 - ⌛ 5 min.
Blend peas, and if possible pass through a fine strainer to remove skins and get a very smooth puree.
Step 7 - ⌛ 5 min.
Mix 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Add 2 tbs of this mix to the pea puree, salt, pepper, and keep covered in the fridge.
Add 2 tbs of this mix to the pea puree, salt, pepper, and keep covered in the fridge.
Step 8 - ⌛ 10 min.
Prepare stuffing: cut 2 radishes into very small pieces, put in a bowl, add 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, 50 g tuna in oil, 50 g cooked rice, 1 bunch chives chopped, and the chopped tomato flesh. Mix well.
Step 9 - ⌛ 5 min.
Fill tomatoes with this mix.
Step 10 - ⌛ 5 min.
Place a tomato upside down on a serving plate, coat with remaining olive oil-lemon juice mix.
Step 11 - ⌛ 5 min.
With a very sharp knife, cut out tiny circles of olive, as thin as possible.
Step 12 - ⌛ 20 min.
Stick olive circles on tomato to get the ladybird effect. Tip: position them with the point of a knife.
Make the head with 1/2 olive and 2 blades of chives, then surround with pea puree.
Do this with all your tomatoes, and serve without delay.
Make the head with 1/2 olive and 2 blades of chives, then surround with pea puree.
Do this with all your tomatoes, and serve without delay.
Step 13
For adults you could make a quicker version without olives.
Remarks
With this recipe you will become a god or goddess of cooking for your young children or grand-children. After this they will frequently ask you to make ladybird tomatoes again... To make it a real surprise, close the kitchen door if possible while you cook, and then see their eyes open wide when you put the plates on the table.
To cook rice, use the pilaf method or rice-cooker.
To cook rice, use the pilaf method or rice-cooker.
Keeping: Several days in the fridge, covered by a plastic film.
Source: Homemade, from a photo seen in a women's magazine a long time ago.
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Nutritional information
| Proteins | Carbohydrates | Fats | Calories | Energy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per 100 g | 3 g RDI=4 % | 5 g RDI=2 % | 11 g RDI=15 % | 133 kcal RDI=7 % | 558 kJ RDI=7 % |
| Per tomatoes | 5 g RDI=8 % | 10 g RDI=4 % | 21 g RDI=29 % | 251 kcal RDI=13 % | 1,052 kJ RDI=13 % |
| Whole recipe | 31 g RDI=48 % | 61 g RDI=23 % | 126 g RDI=173 % | 1,508 kcal RDI=75 % | 6,312 kJ RDI=75 % |
How much will it cost?
For 6 tomatoes
7.15 €
Per tomatoes
1.20 €
Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
This recipe uses (among others)
Cooked rice
You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example:
Tuna in oil
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