Monday, March 12, 2012

Stuffed Grape Leaves


Hands down one of my favorite foods on this earth is grape leaves. They are definitely a love 'em or hate 'em type food, and haters always ask me what it is I love so much about them. The answer is: I have no idea, but I could eat them all day and all night. And not to toot my own horn, but these grape leaves are among the best I've had. The idea came to be when I discovered canned grape leaves at Whole Foods. Though I was initially skeptical, they turned out to be incredible, and I went through 3 cans in 2 days (that's when I decided to stop stocking my house with them). Next to the stuffed grape leaves I saw a jar of plain ol' unstuffed grape leaves, and I thought that I could pretty easily make a both low fat and vegan version of my own. It is very rare that the vision in my head is what comes out on the plate, but I must say that this time I nailed it! I even converted Andrew, a former hater, to the ways of the leaf. Here is how to make these delicious morsels for yourself:

Look at them skills!
Stuffed Grape Leaves
  • 1 jar grape leaves, packed in water
  • 2 cups brown rice, cooked as per the directions
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Tah-dah!
  1. Cook the rice as per the directions. Let sit until room temperature.
  2. Chop the parsley and mint coarsely and add to the rice. Stir well.
  3. Add the lemon juice, vinegar, and walnuts to the rice mixture, stirring until well combined.
  4. Add ample salt and pepper. Keep tasting until it is to your liking.
  5. Use a towel to pat dry about 15 grape leaves.
  6. Lay out one at a time, and spoon about 1 heaping tbsp. of the rice mixture in the middle.
  7. Fold in the sides of the leaves (on top of the filling), and roll from bottom to top.
  8. Place finished leaves on a separate plate, and repeat for all grape leaves. 
  9. If grape leaves break in the process, it is mandatory that you eat them immediately ;)
  10. Serve and enjoy!
Very serious about rolling





2 comments:

  1. You are so funny! And you may even convert another hater. How about making these for Passover!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will gladly make these for Passover :) Any excuse to make them again

    ReplyDelete