Dolmades
Ingredients
Leaf Wrappers
- 16 oz grape leaves, (500ml jar)
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cup chicken broth (or stock)
- 4 tbsp lemon juice ( 1 medium lemon )
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Filling
- 1 cup white rice
- 2 tbsp oil for cooking the meat (regular olive oil is good)
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 large finely chopped onion
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup each fresh mint, parsley, dill ( 3 tbsp dried = 1/2 cup fresh )
Instructions
Leaf Wrappers
- Rinse leaves, and lay flat in a colander to drain. If the leaves are not labelled as "tender" or if they are tough to chew, boil in water at medium heat for 5-10 minutes, soak in cool water, and lay flat in a colander.
Filling
- Soak the rice in a large bowl of water for 15-20 minutes, or until it is easy to break a grain of rice. Drain well.
- While the rice is soaking, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet, on medium.
- Add the onions, and sautee until translucent, about 2 minutes.
- Add the meat and cook until fully browned.
- Drain the fat, and season with salt, pepper, and cumin.
- Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, add the rice, meat, and rest of the ingredients from the Filling list, and mix well.
more Leaf Wrappers
- Place a leaf on your workspace, shiny side down, trim off the stem if present, place a heaping teaspoon (less than a tablespoon) 2/3 from the top, roll up, fold the sides over, then finish rolling the leaf. Repeat until all the leaves are stuffed.
- Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a separate pot.
- Cover the bottom of a large pot with the 4 tbsp olive oil.
- Layer the bottom with any broken leaves, preferably build up 3 layers to prevent anything from sticking and burning.
- Cover the bottom of the pot with the dolmades, seam facing down.
- Add the rest of the dolmades, seam-side down.
- Place a temperature-safe plate on top of the dolmades, and set the heat to medium.
- Pour the boiling broth over the dolmades.
- Add boiling water or additional broth to cover the plate, if needed.
- Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes, until the liquid is all absorbed.
- Remove the plate, add the lemon juice, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let cook for another 30-40 minutes (test one at 30 minutes to see if it's done).
- Remove dolmades from heat, let rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, serve with tzatziki, or Greek yogurt and lemon wedges,
Notes
- If you have fresh grape leaves, wash them thoroughly, remove the stems and blanch them in a boiling water for 1-2 minutes, until soft. Remove the leaves with a slotted spoon and place them in a cold water. Do this in batches of 12-15 leaves.
- Vegetarian option - replace ground beef with 3/4 cup rice