Dolmades

Vine leaves rolled around rice that is only half cooked, weighted down with a plate so they cannot unroll.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 1 jar vine leaves in brine, about 60 leaves
• 300 g short-grain rice
• 3 onions, very finely chopped
• 6 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 large bunch dill, chopped
• 1 bunch mint, chopped
• 150 ml olive oil
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 600 ml hot water or light stock
• salt and pepper

Method

1. THE RICE GOES IN RAW AND THE ROLLS ARE LEFT SLACK. Rice swells to about three times its volume, and a parcel packed tight with cooked rice has nowhere to go: it splits down the seam within twenty minutes and the pan fills with loose filling. A teaspoon of raw rice, rolled loosely, finishes plump and closed.
2. A PLATE GOES ON TOP OF THEM IN THE PAN, and it is not optional. Vine leaves unroll as they cook and float; weighted, they stay shut and stay under the liquid. A heatproof plate that just fits inside the pan is the right thing.
3. Vine leaves lifted from the jar and rinsed well under cold water, then covered in boiling water 3 minutes and drained. Brine left on makes the whole batch too salty to eat.
4. Stems snipped off with scissors.
5. Filling: rice, onions, spring onions, herbs, half the oil, half the lemon juice, salt and pepper, mixed well. It will look like a dry salad and that is right.
6. Torn or small leaves laid over the base of a wide pan -- they protect the rolls from the heat and are not eaten.
7. To roll: a leaf vein side UP, stem end towards you. A teaspoon of filling in a line near the stem end. Fold the bottom up over it, fold BOTH SIDES IN, then roll away from you, loosely, to a cigar about the size of a thumb.
8. Packed into the pan seam side down, tight against each other in circles. Tight in the pan, loose in the roll -- they hold each other shut.
9. A second layer on top if needed.
10. The rest of the oil and lemon juice over them, then the hot water poured down the side until it just covers.
11. THE PLATE ON TOP, pressing them down. Lid on. Brought to a simmer and cooked 45 minutes on the lowest heat.
12. Heat off and left to stand, still weighted, 30 minutes. They firm up as they cool and are far easier to lift out.
13. Eaten warm or cold with lemon. Better the next day and they keep four.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Greece · All recipes