Yaprach Stuffed Grape Leaves Food

YAPRAKES FINOS (SEPHARDIC STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES)

Steps:

• Stuffing: Peel, seed, and chop tomatoes. Set aside.Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. If desired, add the pine nuts and sauté until golden. Add the rice and sauté until well coated, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the water, tomatoes, parsley, salt, sugar, pepper, and, if desired, currants. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Let cool.If using preserved leaves: unroll, rinse under cold water, then soak in cold water to cover for 15 minutes. If using fresh grape leaves: blanch in boiling lightly salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Carefully cut off the stems. Place the leaves on a flat surface, shiny side down and vein side up.On large leaves place about 1 Tablespoon stuffing and on smaller leaves a heaping teaspoon near the stem end. Carefully fold the leaf from the stem end to cover the filling. Fold the sides over, then roll up the leaf to make a neat package.Cover the bottom of a baking dish or heavy pot with any extra leaves. Arrange the rolls, seam side down, in layers in the prepared dish.To Make the Sauce: Combine the water, lemon juice, oil, garlic, sugar, and salt and pour over the stuffed grape leaves to cover. Weigh down the rolls with a heavy plate. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until tender, about 1 hour. Let cool.

STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• Leave your grape leaves in cold water for couple of hours otherwise it will be too salty.
• Leave your rice in warm water (almost hot) for 20 minutes then strain.
• Take your 250 gr. ground beef, 1 cup of washed rice, 2 grated tomatoes, 3 finely chopped onions, 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley, 1/2 tbsp. pepper paste, 1/2 tbsp. tomato paste, 1/4 cup vegetable oil some salt and some black pepper in a large bowl. Knead it with your hands until all the ingredients combine very well. Your mixture is ready : )
• Grab your dutch oven, cover the bottom with grape leaves.
• Take on of your grape leaves, put 1 tbsp. of your mixture at the bottom of it, fold the edges and roll. You can see a detailled introduction on our below video. Align the rolls to your dutch oven one by one without leaving any space. If you leave spaces it will bloat and fall apart while cooking.
• Take your dutch oven to a medium heat. Melt 1 tbsp. beef bouillon in 2 cups of water and add it to your stuffed grape leaves. Cover the lid and cook about 35-45 minutes.
• While cooking the stuffed grape leaves, prepare your sauce. Heat your 2 tbsp. vegetable oil in a pan. Add 1 tbsp. tomato paste and 1 tbsp. dried mints, saute about 1-2 minutes. Take it off from the heat, add 1 cup of water and 1 fresh lemon juice, stir until dissolved.
• Take your stuffed grape leaves off from the heat after they are cooked. Hover your sauce over your stuffed grape leaves, cover the lid and rest it for about 1 hour.

YAPRAKIA (STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES)

Steps:

• In a bowl mix the ground beef, uncooked rice, onion, 3/4 cup chicken broth, juice of 1 lemon, dill, salt and pepper.
• To blanchthe leaves place them in boiling water for a few seconds then put them in a colander to drain.
• Lay 1 leaf vein side up, place 1 tsp of mixture close to the stem. Next fold the sides in and roll upwards.(If the mixture begins to dry just add more chicken stock)
• Optional: Line the bottom of a stock pot with a few leaves.
• Start to place the rolled grape leaves tightly together in a circular pattern at the bottom of the stockpot. Continue until all of the leaves have been filled and placed in the pot.
• Add in 2 cups of chicken broth and the juice from ½ of a lemon. Then place the squeezed lemon in the pot as well.
• Cover with extra leaves and drizzle with olive oil.
• Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil
• Once boiling immediately reduce to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is soft.
• Before serving add a squeeze of lemon juice on top of cooked yaprakia.

LEBANESE STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground beef, rice, garlic powder, allspice, salt, pepper, and cinnamon, and set aside.
• Rinse grape leaves several times. If the leaves are small, leave them intact, but cut out the large center vein. If the leaves are large, cut them in half vertically, cutting out the large vein in the process. Place a small amount of the ground meat mixture at the end of each leaf. Roll up egg-roll style.
• Pour the oil into the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Lay the chops over the oil. Lay the tomato slices over the chops.
• Place the stuffed grape leaves seam-side down on top of the chops. Pack the leaves tightly and begin a second layer when necessary. Place whole garlic cloves randomly between the rolled leaves; plenty of garlic on each layer.
• When you are done stacking, pour the lemon juice over the leaves, and add water to the pot to about 2-inches above the rolled leaves. To prevent the leaves from unrolling during cooking, place a plate on top of the stack of leaves and place a heavy object on top of the plate.
• Simmer the leaves over low heat for about 2 hours.
• Invert the entire Dutch oven into a large platter with high sides (i.e. a 12-inch round cake pan). Or, remove the leaves from the pot with tongs. Serve rustic style, with plenty of Arabic bread on which to spread the garlic!

STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• Put the onions and oil in a skillet and cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. While the onions cook, peel the garlic cloves and mash them to a paste in a mortar and pestle. Add this to the pan along with the tomato, lemon juice, tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in the rice. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the dill. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.
• While this is cooling, drain the grape leaves and carefully pull them apart. Put them into a bowl and cover them with cold water. Let them soak until you are ready to roll.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place a grape leaf on your work surface, shiny side down. Add 1 tablespoon of the rice mixture to the middle of the grape leaf. Fold the sides over the rice and roll the leaf into a small log shape, about the size of George's thumb. Repeat with the remaining rice, placing the stuffed leaves into a 9 by 9-inch baking dish. When the dish is full, cover the stuffed leaves with several layers of flat grape leaves and pour in 1 cup of water. Cover and bake for 1 hour. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Serve cool.

YAPRACH (STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES)

Steps:

• Mix all the ingredients except for the grape leaves together in a large bowl.
• Rinse the grape leaves well in hot water and leave them in a bowl of hot water while you work with each one individually.
• Place one leaf on your working surface, smooth side down.
• Take one teaspoon of rice filling (measure according to the size of the leaf) and place it in a finger shape in the middle of the leaf.
• Roll the outer edges towards but not quite reaching the middle.
• Roll from the bottom towards the top into a cigar shape and place in a large pot.
• Continue until all the leaves and filling has been used up, placed the filled leaves in the pot in a circular fashion, one level on top of another.
• Add water until slightly covering the leaf layers.
• Add a few drops of oil, a pinch of pepper and citric acid and 1/2 tablespoon of tomato paste to the water.
• Boil covered until all the water has been absorbed.
• Remove from heat.
• Place a kitchen towel between the pot and cover, cover well and return to a small flame.
• Cook for an additional 1/2 hour.
• Serve hot or cold.

STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES (WITH MEAT)

Steps:

• In 1/3 cup hot oil in 12-inch skillet, saute onion and green onion, stirring until golden - 5 minutes. Add lamb; cook, stirring until lamb is no longer pink - 10 minutes. Add rice, nuts, dill salt, pepper and 3/4 cup water. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes, until water is absorbed.
• Remove from heat. Turn into bowl to cool 30 minutes before stuffing grape leaves. Meanwhile, separate grape leaves. Rinse well in cold water to wash away any brine. Dry well on paper towels. Use imperfect leaves for layering evenly in the bottom of the skillet.
• Lay leaves, shiny side down, on flat surface.Put 1 tablespoon lamb mixture in center of each leaf; fold sides over filling; roll up, starting from narrow end. Do not roll too tightly; rice needs room to expand. Fill skillet with closely fitted layers of stuffed leaves.
• Pour lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 cup cold water over them. Put heavy plat, upside down, on top to prevent leaves from unrolling. Bring to boiling; simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed - 30 minutes. Cool in skillet, if serving cold as an appetizer.
• With slotted utensil, lift out of liquid onto serving plate.
• If serving warm with egg-and-lemon sauce: In small saucepan over direct heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Remove from heat; stir in 3 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt; mix until smooth.
• Stir in 1 can chicken broth and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Cook over low heat, stirring, until boiling. In small bowl, beat 4 egg yolks slightly; beat in small amount of hot mixture. Slowly return to pan, stirring until thick. Remove from heat. Makes 2 cups.

DOLMAS (STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES)

Steps:

• Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions until tender. Stir in rice and hot water to cover. Cover and simmer until rice is half cooked, about 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in tomato paste, currants, pine nuts, cinnamon, mint leaves, dill weed, allspice and cumin. Let mixture cool.
• Prepare a large pot by placing an inverted plate on the bottom; this protects the dolmas from direct heat when steaming.
• Rinse grape leaves in warm water; drain and cut off any stems. Place about 1 teaspoon of the cooled rice mixture in the center of a leaf. Fold in the sides and then roll into a cigar shape. Place in prepared pot. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
• Pour in just enough warm water to reach the bottom of the first layer of dolmas. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 to 45 minutes, or until rice is totally cooked. Check the water level often and add more as necessary.

SWEET AND SOUR STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, and simmer until a thin syrup forms, about 10 minutes. Let cool in pan.
• In a medium saucepan, bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 1/2 cups of the rice, and salt. Boil until rice is al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain and let rice cool.
• In a medium skillet over medium-low heat, heat oil and add onions. Sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add raisins and barberries and sauté a minute or two. Add rice, sour salt, lemon powder or lemon juice, and 2 to 3 tablespoons vinegar syrup (enough for a balance of sweet and sour). Save remaining syrup.
• Pour 1/2 cup water into a heavy 5-quart pot and scatter in remaining 3 tablespoons rice, to prevent leaves from sticking to pot. On a work surface, place a grape leaf dull side up, and place 1 tablespoon of rice mixture close to the stem. Fold over both sides of leaf and roll up to close. Place seam side down in pot, continuing until there is a single tightly packed layer. Scatter half the apricots and prunes on top. Make a second layer and scatter remaining fruit on top.
• Add 1/4 cup water to reserved syrup and pour over stuffed grape leaves. Place small heat-proof plate on leaves as weight. Cover pot tightly, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer until leaves are tender, about 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.

MY OWN FAMOUS STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, saute the rice, onion, dill, and mint for about 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Pour in 1 quart of broth, reduce heat to low and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until rice is almost cooked. Stir in 1/2 of lemon juice and remove from heat.
• Take one leaf, shiny side down, and place 1 teaspoon of the rice mixture at the bottom (stem) end of the leaf. Fold both sides of the leaf towards the center, roll up from the broad bottom to the top, and place into a 4-quart pot. Repeat with all leaves, leaving no gaps as leaves are placed in pot (to prevent from opening while cooking). Sprinkle with remaining lemon juice and with olive oil.
• Pour chicken broth over all to cover grape leaves. Cover pot and simmer for about 1 hour (do not boil, because this will make the stuffing burst out of the leaves). Remove from heat, remove cover and let cool for 1/2 hour. Transfer to serving dish and serve.