Traditional Stuffed Grape Leaves

Recipe Images

Step 10: Final Result
 

Ingredients

2 1/2 to 3 lbs of ground beef - 90/10 lean
2 cups white rice (I prefer a natural uncooked white rice to a parboiled enriched rice. Whatever rice you use, be sure it can withstand 4 hours cooking without turning to mush.)
2 tbsp pepper
3-4 tbsp salt
8-10 whole cloves of garlic
6-8 thawed or fresh chicken legs and/or thighs
1 jar vine leaves/grape leaves (I use Shahia Vine Leaves in a 500 gram net/950 gram gross weight from Turkey. These only have grape leaves, water, salt and citric acid. No other chemicals or preservative have been added.)
Large serving platter
Glass of soda, wine or other favorite drink
a4freedom
Give this recipe for traditional stuffed grape leaves a try. You'll love it.

Directions

Find a large work area, such as the dining room or kitchen table that's within sight distance of the TV. Or turn on some music if you prefer.
Pull up a comfortable chair to sit in while creating the grape leaves.
In the kitchen, open and drain the jar of grape leaves. Let it drain completely while completing the next few steps.
At your work space, in the large pot, arrange the chicken on the bottom, trying to keep as level a bottom as possible. Set aside and wash your hands. (See photo).
In the large bowl, add the meat, rice, salt and pepper.
Mix these all together with your hands until rice is evenly distributed throughout the meat. (See photo).
Set aside and wash your hands. Take a drink.
Over the sink, gently pull grape leaves out of the jar. Most jars will have three separate bundles of leaves. As you remove them from the jar, squeeze out as much liquid as possible without ripping the leaves.
Put the leaves in a bowl and dry your hands. Take the leaves to your work space and have a drink.
Unroll each bundle of leaves and inspect for any long stems. Using your kitchen scissors, cut off any stems and discard. Stack the leaves in a loose pile. (See photo).
If you are right handed, arrange your work space from right to left -- bowl with meat, cutting board with grape leaves, pot with chicken. Lefties -- reverse the order.
Have a drink. The next steps, 13 thru 24, will be repeated until all the grape leaves have been used or the meat is gone.
Separate a leaf from the pile and put in the middle of your board with the points of the grape leaves pointing away from you.
Pull a small amount of meat from the bowl -- approximately a rounded 1/2 teaspoon. This can be more or less depending on whether you like meatier grape leaves or not. This also depends on the size of the grape leaf, if it is small, use less meat.
Roughly shape meat into a cigar shape and place in the middle of the leaf. (See photo).
Starting at the bottom of leaf, the edge closest to you, roll the leaf around the meat once.
Fold the right side of the leaf into the middle of the leaf.
Fold the left side of the leaf into the middle of the leaf. (See photo)
Roll the rest of the leaf, making sure all the edges are folded in and all the meat and rice is completely covered by the leaf.
This will create a cigar shaped roll. (See photo).
With the flat of your hand, roll finished grape leaf back and forth a couple of times, shaping meat and sealing leaf. Don't spend a lot of time trying to make the roll perfect. Just try to make sure the meat is covered and the grape leaf is rolled firmly around the meat. As the grape leaves cook, the meat and rice will expand, while the grape leaves will shrink a little, creating tight rolled grape leaves that can withstand handling with fingers and tongs.
Don't forget to have a drink regularly and watch your programs or movies. This will relieve some of the tediousness of rolling the grape leaves.
Place rolled leaf in the large pot on top of the chicken with one end facing the middle of the pot and the other touching the side of the pot. (See photo).
After you make the next leaf, place it next to the first and so on following the circle of the pot. Keep adding grape leaves until you have one layer of grape leaves on top of the chicken.
Continue to add rolled grape leaves in layers until all the grape leaves have been used. When you are done, you should be able to see the bottom layer of chicken through the center of the mound of grape leaves. (See photo).
Add 4-6 whole cloves of garlic into the middle of the mound of grape leaves.
Place the small pot lid upside down on top of the mound of grape leaves. Putting the lid upside down allows for a flat surface on which to put your heavy weight.
Next put your heavy weight on top of the small lid. (See photo). This is done to ensure that grape leaves won't float around the pot during cooking time. It also ensures that the grape leaves will not come apart during cooking.
Place another 3-4 whole cloves of garlic around the mound of grape leaves.
Fill pot with enough warm water to cover the weight, pressing down occasionally to make sure all air bubbles have been released.
Place the lid on the pot.
Place the pot on top of the stove and turn on the heat to high.
Bring the pot to a rapid boil, watching to make sure the water does not overflow the pot. Pull the lid of the pot a little to the side to allow the steam to escape and to keep some control on the boiling.
Since heat on stoves vary and you know your stove best, turn down the heat just enough to keep the water at a rolling boil. This means turn the heat down to approximately a medium to a medium low heat, just enough to keep the water bubbling. You may need to adjust your temperature throughout the cooking time, just make sure you don't boil off the water. Should the level of the water get low enough to expose any of the grape leaves, add enough additional water to re-cover them and turn your heat down a little more. If you have to add water more than once to the pot, turn the heat down until the boil can be maintained without loosing too much water.
When 3 hours cooking time has passed, take the lid off the pot and gently lift the weight and the small lid just enough to pull one grape leaf from the pot.
Taste the grape leaf to see if additional time is needed for cooking. When you bite the grape leaf, if the leaf feels a little tough and leathery, then more time is needed for cooking.
Continue cooking and tasting until biting through a leaf is easy and the leaf is soft. Do not overly exceed 4 hours cooking time, otherwise your leaves may turn to mush.
Once done, carefully drain the water from the grape leaves, leaving them in the pot for now.
Remove the small lid and weight from the top of the mound of grape leaves.
Now, this is the point in which an expert grape leaf maker excels. Place your platter on top of the pot and, while holding both, turn the pot over, allowing the grape leaf mound to fall onto the platter. Remove the pot. The expert grape leaf maker can turn the pot over and, when the pot is pulled away, leave a perfect mound of grape leaves in the shape of the pot with the chicken on top. I have not yet reached that level of expertise and continue to work on that aspect of this dish. (See photo).
Serve the grape leaves with pita bread, a salad like tabbouli, Greek olives, and fresh wedges of fresh lemon.

Additional Notes

Utensils/Accessories: Before beginning this recipe, please make sure you have the following utensils and accessories. These will make the process of creating great grape leaves much easier. 8 quart pot with lid -- preferably domed 6 inch lid that can withstand being submersed in water and boiled for 4 hours 6 inch heavy weight -- I use a 6 inch marble coaster Cutting board Kitchen sissors Comfortable chair Large work space Large bowl TV with lots of favorite programs or movies ---------------------- You can now make the most mouth-watering grape leaves that will get you rave reviews every time you make them. This is a dish that I learned from my Syrian mother-in-law. Cooking was the one way we could communicate since I don't speak Arabic and she doesn't speak English. By pointing and hands-on showing, she showed me the secrets to make the best grape leaves ever. This recipe is deceptively easy, there are only 4 main ingredients. It is the process to make grape leaves that is long, but once you have committed yourself to trying to make them once, you will never go back to canned or jarred grape leaves again. Nothing compares with the flavor of freshly prepared grape leaves. Warning though, you MUST be willing to devote 2-3 hours for preparation time and 4 hours of cooking time. And due to the length and level of boiling required to fully cook the grape leaves, you must watch to make sure the water does not cook off and burn your grape leaves. But trust me, this time is worth the effort. A jar of grape leaves has approximately 150 to 175 leaves. If you serve 10-12 grapes leaves per person, this pot will give you approximately 15-20 servings. You will love these grape leaves and your friends and family will give you unending compliments. Reheating grape leaves is easy - place a bunch in a microwaveable dish and cover with a wet paper towel. Heat for a couple of minutes or use the sensor reheat button on your microwave. The wet paper towel will keep the grape leaves from drying out too much.