- Stuffed grape leaves is my favorite dish.
I even learned how to wrap the grape leaves
when I was only 12 years old.
And today, I'm gonna show you how to make the recipe.
First, I'm Yumna, AKA Feel Good Foodie.
I share wholesome nutritious meals
that make your body feel good.
This grape leaves recipe is one I always feel good making.
It's a popular Middle Eastern appetizer
that's made with brined grape leaves, rice,
and either beef or vegetables.
I've shared the beef version before,
and today I'm gonna share with you the vegan version
that's made with tomatoes, green onions,
and lots of parsley.
Don't be intimidated by the recipe,
it's a super simple recipe to make.
It's just a little tedious, it takes some time.
So let's get started.
You'll need a jar of grape leaves.
They usually come brined in a jar like this,
you also need some rice, green onions, chopped tomatoes,
parsley, lots of lemon juice, olive oil and some seasoning,
including mint, crushed red peppers, salt and pepper.
We're gonna start by washing the grape leaves.
We're going to transfer this to a colander
and rinse out the grape leaves.
All right, now that we've washed the grape leaves,
it's time to put together the mixture.
So, I have here some short-grain rice, about two cups,
and I'm going to add to it 1/2 cup of chopped green onions,
along with about 1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes
and about 1/2 cup of parsley.
Now, for the seasoning, I like to keep it super simple.
So, I do some crushed red pepper,
some dried mint, and salt and pepper.
And then let's add a 1/4 cup of olive oil to the mix.
Now we're gonna give all that a good stir.
This mixture is very similar to tabbouleh,
but instead of using bulgur, we're using short-grain rice.
So, it may look pretty similar
and that's exactly what it is.
So there's no need to cook the rice.
We're gonna go ahead and use this mixture,
stuff it in the grape leaves and then roll them up
and then cook it all together.
So now we've got the great leaves here
and you'll notice there's a big stick in the middle.
So what wanna do is we want to cut that out,
you can use scissors or you can just fold it like this
and use a knife to cut it and you can toss these.
And now it's time to stuff and roll them.
So lay flat and if it's a small leaf like this,
what I like to do is overlap some of the parts
so there's a nice even layer for stuffing
and nothing falls out, just like that.
Now we'll take about two teaspoons of the rice mixture
and put it in a straight line on the grape leaves.
Now, you'll carefully fold it over,
roll the sides in and tuck it slowly and tightly
but not too tight because it's gonna expand
when that rice cooks.
Just like that.
And then just keep rolling and rolling.
It helps to put on a movie if you're doing this
or I get a couple of girlfriends together,
get your kids even,
I got my daughter's starting to roll these.
So, it's just perfect.
We just sit around and we chat and we rolled grape leaves.
And now we've got about 60 stuffed rolled grape leaves,
and it's time to put it all in the pot.
To make sure nothing burns at the bottom of the pot,
I like to line it up with either potatoes or tomatoes.
Potatoes will absorb more of that liquid,
but tomatoes will add to that liquid.
So, I'm using some tomatoes today
and then I like to add some salt and pepper at the bottom
just to help flavor it, along with some olive oil.
Now, I'm going to neatly arrange all the grape leaves
inside the pot, alternating directions
and making sure to pack it in really tight
so nothing gets unraveled.
So, for every layer of grape leaves,
I like to add salt, pepper and olive oil.
And since we're not cooking this in a pressure cooker,
we're just using a normal pot,
I like to put a plate upside down
on top of the grape leaves just to hold everything in.
So, I just take it and place it right here,
just push it down a little bit.
And to add even more weight,
I also like to just take a bowl, put it on top
and put some water in there.
That's gonna create extra weight
so that the grape leaves don't unravel.
You just need maybe put a cup of water in there.
And then we're also gonna add five to six cups of water
into the pot, just enough to cover the grape leaves.
We're gonna cook this on medium heat for 30 minutes
and then we're gonna add some lemon juice on top
and cook it for an additional 45 minutes at a lower heat.
And it's important not to add the lemon juice
in the beginning
because it's just gonna make it extra bitter.
So, adding it halfway point is perfect
for just giving it that extra zingy flavor
without going overboard.
And here's the final recipe.
I just served it on a plate
and I added some of those lemons from inside
along with tomatoes, crusher, pepper, and parsley.
You can have this warm or you can have it cold.
It's good, both ways
and it makes for such a wonderful appetizer
for family and friends.
All right, it's time for video Matt to try the recipe.
I'm gonna give him one of these.
Here you go.
Awesome, he likes it
and I hope you guys try the recipe and like it as well.
Thank you for watching.
Check out the video description below
for a full written recipe
and be sure to also check out my website
for some tips and tricks for making the grape leaves.
Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe
for more healthiest recipes with Feel Good Ingredients.
See you guys next time.