What are your recipes for Grape Leaves?

Question

Grape leaves are by far my favorite food. My grandma makes them the best, and I've never found any that come close to hers. But I'm just interested in hearing other people's recipes.

Answer 1

The recipe is way to long to print here, but if you really need a recipe for w'rat dawali....then email me. They are one of my fave's also!!

Answer 2

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Greek style)

Ingredients

½ Pound jar grape leaves, washed thoroughly from brine and drained

1 Cup long grain rice

½ Cup pine nuts

1 Onion, finely chopped

¼ Cup parsley, chopped

2 Tablespoons dried dill or 3 tablespoons fresh dill

3 Cloves garlic, slivered

¼ Cup olive oil

½ Cup water

¼ Cup fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Process

1 Wash leaves under hot water. Soak them for 20 minutes and wash them again, separating them to make sure all saltiness has been removed.

2 Parboil rice by allowing it to sit in boiling water for five minutes; rinse and drain thoroughly.

3 Combine and thoroughly blend rice, pine nuts , onion, parsley, dill, salt & pepper.

4 Cut off stem from ends of each leaf. Place shiny side down. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture on wide end, fold up, fold both sides in and roll up jelly-roll style.

5 Line rolls very tightly side by side, seam side down, in saucepan. Place several garlic slivers in between the layers.

6 Add olive oil, lemon juice, water and bring to boil. Place a small heavy plate over the leaves, lower heat, as far as possible, cover pan and simmer very gently until leaves are tender for about 1½ to 2 hours. Every thirty minutes check on water level, adding ¼ cup at a time if needed.

7 Cool leaves before transferring to serving platter. Decorate with lemon wedges.

Makes 40-45 leaves

Can be served hot or warm

Can be frozen after cooking. When cooked again, leaves should be steamed.

Serve with yogurt and dill dipping sauce

Answer 3

Well, I've taken the recipes from different regions and combined them to make my own style. I don't have an exact recipe because I go by smell and look more than anything, but I'll share *some* of my tips. :-P

The night before you plan to make the grape leaves, prepare the rice filling so that it has time to marinate and release all those delish flavors. Soak some rice for an hour or two, then drain and place in a mixing bowl. Finely chop tomatoes, parsley, onions and if you have fresh mint chop a bit of that up nice and fine too. Add this to the rice, and you should have a nice balance of white, red and green. If you have a mortar and pestle, smash up some garlic cloves with a pinch of salt (the salt helps bring out the flavor and makes it easier to smash). If not, just mince them really fine and add to the rice mixture. Salt and pepper the rice. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over the rice... and don't skimp. If you like a meaty flavor, you can either add browned ground beef at this point, or add lamb cubes to the leaves later. But make sure if you're using ground beef that there are no big chunks. Mix well and cover, and let it set overnight in the fridge.

Assuming you know how to stuff and roll the grape leaves, we'll skip to the cooking part. Slice some potatoes or onions into thin slices and layer them at the bottom of a pot. These will be your fail-safe if you accidentally overcook... they will burn instead of your grape leaves. A sacrifice you might say. :-P If you want to add lamb cubes, add them while you're layering the stuffed grape leaves. Fill the pot with water only up to the bottom of the top layer of stuffed leaves. Then top with something heavy. I usually use a heavy tea saucer for this. It will keep them from expanding too much and bursting. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn to med-low heat like you would do if you were cooking regular rice. Once the water has cooked down or all the way out, check one of the top leaves. Usually the top will take longer to cook than the bottom, so if the rice isn't tender, add a little more water and keep cooking till tender.

Then all there is left to do is dump onto a serving plate, remove any potato/onion slices and garlic cloves and dig in! It's a long process, so it's not made that often. So be sure to make plenty when you do!

You can use the same rice mix to make stuffed cabbage leaves, zucchini, or even small potatoes.

Answer 4

It's going to be nearly impossible to find a better recipe than your grandmother's!  But here's a recipe that's a little different:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gorgonzola-...