Lunch · 75 min · turkish

Yaprak Sarma (Stuffed Grape Leaves)

Grape leaves does the heavy lifting here, with rice rounding it out. A Turkish lunch that takes 75 minutes, start to finish.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 40 Grape leaves
• 1.5 cups Rice
• 2 Onion
• 0.25 cup Pine nuts
• 0.25 cup Currants
• 0.5 cup Olive oil
• 1 tbsp Tomato paste
• 0.25 cup Dill
• 0.25 cup Mint
• 2 Lemon
• 0.5 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 tsp Salt

Steps

1. Rinse the grape leaves and blanch 2 minutes if jarred in brine, to tame the salt. Pat dry and snip off any tough stems.
2. Soften the diced onions in half the olive oil until golden. Stir in the rice, pine nuts, currants, tomato paste, cinnamon, and salt, and cook 3 minutes. Add 1 cup hot water and simmer until just absorbed — the rice finishes in the pot.
3. Fold in the chopped dill, mint, and lemon zest off the heat. The filling should taste bright and bold; it mellows inside the leaves.
4. Lay a leaf shiny-side down, place a tablespoon of filling near the stem end, fold the sides in, and roll snugly into a cigar. Snug but not strangled — the rice expands.
5. Line a pot with torn leaves, pack the rolls seam-down in tight layers, and tuck lemon slices between them. Pour over the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, and 2 cups hot water.
6. Weight with a plate, cover, and simmer 40 minutes until the rice is tender. Cool in the pot, then serve at room temperature with lemon wedges.

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