Turning over a new leaf

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

We’ve made dolmas before on several occasions, but had never seen the technique of filing them with uncooked rice. Although we were maybe a bit tentative at first, this approach really worked well... we should know by now that some things have stood the test of time for a reason, right?! The rice swells up when cooking, creating a much firmer and more attractive dolma after cooking than anything we’d done before.

Anyhow, true to our custom, we didn’t exactly follow the recipes (blame Mrs Monkeyshines for that. As usual.) We made two versions one with meat and one vegetarian and gobbled them both up in no time. These are surprisingly filling, and made a delicious dinner when accompanied with whole wheat tabbouleh, baba ghanooj and a greek salad:

Lamb Dolmas

1/2 pound ground lamb
1/6 cup rice
1/4 cup onion
1 tsp dill (dried)
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp fresh mint leaves
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
1 Tbsp fresh parsley
1 clove garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

About 2 dozen grape leaves – fresh or from a jar.

1. Soak the rice for 15 minutes, then drain.
2. Soak the grape leaves in fresh water for about 15 minutes
3. While the rice is soaking, mince the onion, garlic and herbs.
4. Mix all the ingredients  except the grape leaves together in a small bowl
5. One at a time, remove a grape leaf from the water and snip off any remaining stem.
6. Center about a Tablespoon or so of filling in the center of the leaf (just above the stem)
7. Fold the left and right sides of the leaf inward to cover the filling, then roll from the stem end toward the top of the leaf.
8. Place the rolled dolma into a shallow skillet or sauté pan.
9. Repeat with the remaining leaves, packing the dolmas closely into the pan so that they don’t unroll.
10. Add water to the pan until the dolmas are about 3/4 covered. Cover the pan with a lid and place on the stove over medium-high heat.
11. Bring the water in the pan to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes. Check periodically to make sure that the pan does not run dry (it didn’t for us, but did for other DC’s)
12. Spoon out with a spatula and serve.

 

Rice, Feta and Olive Dolmas

2/3 cup rice
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup onion
1/2 red or orange bell pepper
1 Tbsp fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh mint leaves
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
10 or so large black olives, pitted 
Salt and Pepper to taste

About 2 dozen grape leaves – fresh or from a jar.

1. Soak the rice for 15 minutes, then drain.
2. Soak the grape leaves in fresh water for about 15 minutes
3. While the rice is soaking, mince the onion, bell pepper and herbs.
4. Coarsely chop the olives and feta.
5. Mix all the ingredients  except the grape leaves together in a small bowl
6. One at a time, remove a grape leaf from the water and snip off any remaining stem.
7. Center about a Tablespoon or so of filling in the center of the leaf (just above the stem)
8. Fold the left and right sides of the leaf inward to cover the filling, then roll from the stem end toward the top of the leaf.
9. Place the rolled dolma into a shallow skillet or sauté pan.
10. Repeat with the remaining leaves, packing the dolmas closely into the pan so that they don’t unroll.
11. Add water to the pan until the dolmas are about 3/4 covered. Cover the pan with a lid and place on the stove over medium-high heat.
12. Bring the water in the pan to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes. Check periodically to make sure that the pan does not run dry (it didn’t for us, but did for other DC’s)
13. Spoon out with a spatula and serve.

 

Thank you to Lori for hosting a fun challenge and to all the other Daring Cooks who presented some extremely inspiring rolls!