Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmades)

Last week Branka came by to pick up the grape leaves from our back yard, and seemed excited to go home and make "japrak" (stuffed grapes leaves) - a family recipe from her youth in former Yugoslavia. She has served them to us at Easter - stuffed with rice, lamb and mint - and I was a little sorry I wasn’t going home with her for dinner.

I got to thinking that maybe I should make some, after all I love dolmades from Granville Island, but I rarely buy them because they’re  are so expensive for a glob of rice and piece of leaf I generally put in the compost. Even though Branka's rolls are delicious, I didn’t want to stuff the dolmades with meat because I’m not a fan of meat - so I used a recipe by Tyler Florence at foodnetwork.com as my base.

His recipe called for pine nuts, fennel and lemon rind. But I didn’t have any of that. I did, however, have Branka to talk me through the process. Her philosophy of using a few simple ingredients is the right one for these little delicacies.  I’ll definitely make them again because they are super easy to make - way easier than rolling cabbage rolls. Next time though, I might try usingthe smaller, more tender leaves.

In case you're wondering, they were the best dolmades I've ever had. (Sorry Branka - still not a fan of meat. But thanks for the inspiration and help!)

Lessons learned:
The online recipes said to blanch fresh grape leaves for 5 minutes. Branka disagreed. She said that takes out the nutrients and only to blanch them for much less time but couldn't give me an exact number. I suspect she does it by look and feel. A cook after my own heart! I ended up blanching them for 15 seconds, but next time, I’d probably blanch them for 30-60 seconds especially if they are the bigger, less tender leaves.
 

Moving clockwise from the top left this is the progression as I experimented with blanching  the leaves. Top left is raw leaf. Top right is 15 seconds. Bottom right is 30 seconds. Bottom left is 2 minutes.

Online said to cover dolmades with liquid halfway up the rolls but Branka said to completely cover them.  I split the difference and  covered them 3/4 of the way up in liquid. I was surprised to see all the liquid was absorbed in the end.
 

Finally, online said to simmer for 40 minutes. Branka cooks hers for 2-3 hours. You guessed it, I ended up taking the average and cooked them for 70 minutes. In the future, I’d probably take Paul's advice and leave them in for an hour and a half to make the leaves even more tender.

Dolmades

1/4 cup + 1/4 cup olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, chopped
2 carrots, grated
1/2 cup pumpkin seed
1 cup long-grain rice
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons finely chopped dill leaves
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (8-ounce) jar grape leaves, rinsed and drained or 25 grape leaves the size of your hand, blanched
2 lemons, juiced or 6 Tbsp Realemon lemon juice
Water to cover rolls


Filling
Over medium heat, place 1/4 cup olive oil in a sauté pan. Add the onions and stir until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the rice, sauté for 2 minutes, stirring to coat. Pour in just 1/2 cup of the chicken stock and lower the heat. Simmer until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 10 minutes. Scrape the parboiled rice mixture into a bowl and add the pumpkin seeds, carrot, dill and parsley; season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool.

Grape leaves
Trim the stems and any hard veins from the grape leaves. Bring a big pot of water to a simmer. Blanch the grape leaves in the hot water for 30 seconds to 1 minute until pliable. Drain then pat dry.

Assembly
Lay a grape leaf on a work surface, shiny-side down. Put 2 tablespoons of the rice filling near the stem end of the leaf. Fold the stem end over the filling, then fold both sides toward the middle, and roll up into a cigar – it should be snug but not overly tight because the rice will swell once it is fully cooked.

Place the dolmades in a large Dutch oven or wide deep skillet, seam-side down in a single layer. Pour the remaining cup of broth, remaining olive oil, and the lemon juice over the dolmades, the liquid should come to the tops of the rolls, add some water if necessary. Place 4-8 extra grape leaves on top of the rolls. Cover the dolmades with parchment paper and place a plate on top to keep them from coming apart.
Cover the pan and simmer over low heat for 60-80 minutes, until the dolmades are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm or cold.

And now the pictures:

Start with an onion. . . of course

Mix in the rice and coat with oil.

Mix it all together

Get the leaves ready:

Wash the leaves and cut off the stems. One side is noticeably greener than the other. Once they're blanched, that side will be shinier.

I started off blanching them one at a time, but you know me, got impatient and ended up blanching them three at a time.

Dunk them in a pot of boiling water for 15 - 30 seconds until wilted and they start to change colour. Pat them dry on some towels.

I removed the stem and the spiny bit at the bottom, but then there was a big gap, so I . . .

folded one side over the other - just a little bit - to make a continuous surface to lay the rice on.

Took this picture before I had the brainstorm of folding the bottom bits over each other. It still worked ok.

Fold bottom up.

Fold the sides over

And . . . roll it like a cigar. Because we've all rolled cigars, am I right?

Here they are all nestled in, seam side down. In retrospect, should have used a smaller pan or made more.

Cover with broth/olive oil/lemon and extra water if necessary. And I tucked some extra leaves in the sides so they didn't move around. And then covered everything with a few more leaves - but didn't take a picture.

Branka suggested the plate. I improvised with the parchment. Probably it's ok without the parchment.

Et voila!
I was surprised that all the water was absorbed. In fact for some reason I always thought dolmades were baked, so this method of cooking was not what I was expecting.