Lebanese Grape Leaves Recipes

MY OWN FAMOUS STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, saute the rice, onion, dill, and mint for about 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Pour in 1 quart of broth, reduce heat to low and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until rice is almost cooked. Stir in 1/2 of lemon juice and remove from heat.
• Take one leaf, shiny side down, and place 1 teaspoon of the rice mixture at the bottom (stem) end of the leaf. Fold both sides of the leaf towards the center, roll up from the broad bottom to the top, and place into a 4-quart pot. Repeat with all leaves, leaving no gaps as leaves are placed in pot (to prevent from opening while cooking). Sprinkle with remaining lemon juice and with olive oil.
• Pour chicken broth over all to cover grape leaves. Cover pot and simmer for about 1 hour (do not boil, because this will make the stuffing burst out of the leaves). Remove from heat, remove cover and let cool for 1/2 hour. Transfer to serving dish and serve.

LEBANESE GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• Place rice in a medium sized bowl and cover with 3 cups of cold water.
• Let stand for 30-60 minutes.
• Drain and rinse grape leaves in a colander.
• Cut leaves in half removing the thick center stem.
• Save five or six large leaves for bottom of pan- discard any extremely tough or ragged leaves.
• Drain all water from rice.
• Add lamb, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.
• Mix by hand thoroughly.
• Line bottom of large kettle or dutch oven with five or six large leaves to prevent scorching.
• Lay a leaf flat on a plate, shiny side down.
• Put approximately 1 heaping teaspoon of meat mixture towards bottom of leaf.
• Roll in one edge to seal, then roll leaf up firmly but not too tight (you need to leave a little room for the rice to expand while cooking).
• Place leaves in kettle in circular fashion leaving a small circle in the center for water to circulate.
• When you have one full row on bottom of pan, slice two cloves of garlic over the top of the leaves.
• Sprinkle with a little of the mint.
• Continue rolling the leaves and layering them with the garlic/ mint.
• You should have approximately five rows of leaves when you are done.
• Place a heatproof plate over the top of the leaves- large enough to hold them in place, but with a little room on the edges.
• Put a bowl on top of the plate filled with water to hold the plate down while cooking.
• Fill kettle with water over the top of the plate.
• Cook on top of stove on high heat until it begins to boil.
• Lower heat to medium so that water does not boil over and continue cooking.
• Total cooking time after it starts to boil is 16-19 minutes.
• Remove bowl.
• Carefully drain water from kettle.
• Remove plate.
• Arrange leaves on a platter.
• Serve with lemon wedges.

LEBANESE STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground beef, rice, garlic powder, allspice, salt, pepper, and cinnamon, and set aside.
• Rinse grape leaves several times. If the leaves are small, leave them intact, but cut out the large center vein. If the leaves are large, cut them in half vertically, cutting out the large vein in the process. Place a small amount of the ground meat mixture at the end of each leaf. Roll up egg-roll style.
• Pour the oil into the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Lay the chops over the oil. Lay the tomato slices over the chops.
• Place the stuffed grape leaves seam-side down on top of the chops. Pack the leaves tightly and begin a second layer when necessary. Place whole garlic cloves randomly between the rolled leaves; plenty of garlic on each layer.
• When you are done stacking, pour the lemon juice over the leaves, and add water to the pot to about 2-inches above the rolled leaves. To prevent the leaves from unrolling during cooking, place a plate on top of the stack of leaves and place a heavy object on top of the plate.
• Simmer the leaves over low heat for about 2 hours.
• Invert the entire Dutch oven into a large platter with high sides (i.e. a 12-inch round cake pan). Or, remove the leaves from the pot with tongs. Serve rustic style, with plenty of Arabic bread on which to spread the garlic!