Stuffed Grape Leaves - Warak Inib Mihshee

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 50 large grape leaves, rinsed well to remove brine and drained (available preserve, unless you just happen to have your own grape arbor)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 -5 lamb bones or 6 chicken wings, disjointed
• 3 -4 garlic cloves, slivered, more to taste
• 2 to 3 lemons, juice of, more to taste
• 1 -2 tablespoon dried mint (optional)
• prepared stuffing
• 1 cup uncooked rice, parboiled in boiling water for 1 minute, immediately rinsed under cold tap water, and drained well
• 1 lb lamb (but not too fat, especially if using lamb, i prefer to grind my own lamb since most store bought gro) or 1 lb beef, fat and lean, chopped fine (but not too fat, especially if using lamb, i prefer to grind my own lamb since most store bought gro)
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (optional)
• salt & freshly ground black pepper, quite a bit of pepper
• 1 tomato, peeled and chopped (optional)
• 1/4 cup celery leaves, finely chopped (optional)
• 2 -3 tablespoons chopped toasted pine nuts (optional)

Recipe

• 1 if using preserved grape leaves, unpack from jar, and rinse in a generous amount of cold water, separating leave so excess brine leaches out.
• 2 if you actually have access to fresh grape leaves, wash them thoroughly in cold water, drop them, a few at a time, into boiling water for just a couple of seconds to soften, and then transfer them into cold water to stop them from cooking.
• 3 combine all the stuffing ingredients.
• 4 don’t overwork the mixture, just mix it enough to combine the ingredients without compacting everything too much.
• 5 refrigerate for about an hour for flavors to meld.
• 6 prepare a fairly large pot to cook the grape leaves.
• 7 place the lamb or chicken bones in the bottom of the pot.
• 8 cover with any torn grape leaves you may have or a couple cabbage or lettuce leaves, and add just a little water.
• 9 to stuff the grape leaves, place a leaf stem-side up on the counter with the stem end closest to you.
• 10 put a heaping teaspoon of stuffing near the stem end, fold the stem end over the filling, fold the sides in, and then roll toward the tip like a small cigar.
• 11 squeeze lightly in the palm of your hand so everything sticks together.
• 12 stuff the remaining leaves the same way.
• 13 pack the stuffed grape leaves fairly densely into the prepared pot, tucking the slivered garlic cloves here and there.
• 14 drizzle each layer of grape leaves with a little with the lemon juice and sprinkle with a little dried mint.
• 15 add just enough water to just barely cover the rolls.
• 16 cover with more torn grape leaves, cabbage leaves, or lettuce leaves (in a pinch, paper towels), and cover with a small plate to keep them submerged and to keep them from coming unrolling.
• 17 bring them to a simmer over fairly low heat, and simmer for about 1 hour, adding more water as needed.
• 18 if desired, about 20 minutes before they are done, carefully remove the lid, covering plate and leaves, paper towels, whatever, and sprinkle with dried mint.
• 19 add a little more water, recover with everything, and continue cooking.
• 20 these are best hot or warm.
• 21 they are only ok cold-- kind of boring-- just not enough flavor when cold.
• 22 alternative: you can use this same filling to make stuffed cabbage leaves (mahshi coromb).
• 23 i actually like these better than the stuffed grape leaves.
• 24 everything is pretty much the same, except for using cabbage instead of grape leaves, plus a few other minor points.
• 25 find a large head of cabbage that looks real pretty, with nice large outside leaves.
• 26 cut a deep cone to remove most of the core.
• 27 fill a fairly large pan with water, add several tablespoons of salt and bring to a full boil.
• 28 plunge the entire head of cabbage into the water for 10-15 seconds, remove, peel off the outermost layer or layers of leaves, and drop them into cold water.
• 29 repeat, until you have removed all of the larger leaves on the head of cabbage-- even fairly small leaves are ok.
• 30 you just end up with big cabbage rolls and small cabbage rolls.
• 31 prepare your cooking pot the same way, except use left over cabbage leaves (or slice up a little of the core) instead of grape leaves.
• 32 you will probably have to trim down the heavy main-veins on the cabbage leaves so they can be rolled easily.
• 33 compare how many cabbage leaves you have, their size, and the amount of stuffing you have to determine just how much to put into each leaf.
• 34 roll them up the same way as you would the grape leaves; they will just be a lot bigger.
• 35 pack the cabbage rolls into the cooking pot, add the garlic slivers as before, sprinkle with the lemon juice, and now, you face the only possible change-- but that’s up to you.
• 36 are you ready for one of the biggest decisions of your life?.
• 37 you must decide whether to add 3-4 tbsp of tomato paste to the water you are going to add to the cabbage rolls.
• 38 then you must decide whether you are going to add 1-2 tbsp of honey or sugar to the same mess.
• 39 i have been told that the tomato and honey is a greek influence on the basic arabic cuisine, but i don’t really know for sure.
• 40 i think the cabbage rolls are better with the tomato and honey.
• 41 it offsets the little bitterness of the cabbage, but it is your choice.
• 42 everything else is just the same, even the touch of mint if you want to use it.
• 43 these are definitely best when served hot!