Quinoa Stuffed Vine Leaves Recipes

DOLMADES: STUFFED VINE LEAVES

Steps:

• In a bowl mix the raw ground beef, onion, oregano, parsley, mint, rice, salt, and pepper together.
• Carefully, separate the vine leaves. Place each leaf on a wooden board shiny side down, with its stem toward you. Put a teaspoon of the stuffing near the bottom of the leaf, fold the bottom and 2 sides to cover the filling, and roll tightly toward the tip of the leaf.
• Place them in a casserole dish or pan and cover with several of the remaining grape leaves. Cover completely with stock or water and place in a preheated 350 degree F oven to bake for 1 hour, or until the rice and the leaves are tender and the juice absorbed.
• Once the grape leaves are done, uncover them. Carefully pour any remaining liquid out of the pan into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the lemon into the eggs and beat until frothy. Slowly whisk in the remaining broth from the grape leaves into the egg/lemon mixture. If it is done too fast, the eggs will curdle. Pour the entire egg mixture over the grape leaves and let sit to warm. Serve cold as a meze (appetizer) or warm as an entree.

QUINOA-STUFFED VINE LEAVES

Steps:

• Oven 350.
• Combine quinoa, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, parsley, oregano, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a med. sized bowl.
• Carefully separate vine leaves.
• Place each leaf, shiny side down and stem towards you on a work surface.
• Put 1 tablespoons stuffing near the bottom of the leaf.
• Fold the bottom and sides inward to cover filling.
• Roll tightly toward tip of leaf.
• Pack tightly, seam-side down, into baking dish.
• Pour boiling water into the dish.
• Cover with a plate to keep leaves from unrolling during cooking.
• Bake until quinoa is tender, about 30 minutes.
• Drain and serve with lemon wedges and Balkan-style yoghurt.
• I usually rinse the quinoa first and allow to dry or pat dry.
• Preparation time depends on how fast you can put this together and at first it can be slow so timing is very approximate.