Recipe: Authentic Lebanese Stuffed Grape Leaves

The Lebanese stuffed grape leaves recipe is one of my all time favourite foods. It is both a blessing and a curse that neither my husband or children likes them. A blessing that I get them all to myself… a curse because, due to the fact no one else eats them, I only bother making them a few times a year.

Although they are VERY easy to make, they are not by any means FAST to make. Plus, I basically devour them in a very short space of time after they are cooked. You can see my dilemma.

Anyway, I have had other people (outside of my immediate family), rave about them, so I thought I would share my Lebanese stuffed grape leaves recipe. I used to help my mother make these, and she learnt from watching my taita (my grandmother on my father’s side).

Ingredients for Lebanese Stuffed Grape Leaves Recipe

3 x large tomatoes diced (or I use lots of small ones if my garden is being generous with the cherry tomatoes!)

2 x tomatoes sliced into 1cm rounds

2 x potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1cm rounds

1 x Shallot Onion finely diced

1/2 cup short grain white rice

2 x bunches parsley (you can use curled or flat parsley, I prefer flat) finely chopped

1 x bunch mint finely chopped

5 x large lemons juiced

1 x red chilli (or more – whatever is your heat preference) finely chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1 x jar pickled grape vine leaves *or if you are lucky enough to have access to fresh grape vine leaves, you’ll need around 60 – this work GREAT, I was lucky to have a friend give me some once & I just blanched the leaves in hot water before I stuffed and wrapped them.

1 tsp Salt (1/2 for the rice mixture & 1/2 for the broth)

1/2 tsp Pepper

Water

Method for Lebanese Stuffed Grape Leaves Recipe

1. In a large bowl mix the diced tomatoes, shallot onion, parsley, mint, chilli, rice, oil, lemon juice and salt & pepper.
2. Line the bottom of a large stovetop cooking pot with the sliced potatoes and tomatoes.
3. Take a vine leaf (if the stem is long, cut it off) and place about 1 tablespoon of the rice mixture in the centre of the leaf. Roll the leaf tightly around the filling, tucking in the sides as you go. Repeat with the remaining vine leaves and filling. Place them in a circular pattern on top of the potato and tomato in your prepared pot.
4. There will be liquid left in your bowl from the lemon juice & oil mixture, strain the liquid into the pot, over the Lebanese stuffed grape vine leaves.
5. Add water to the pot to just come up to the the top of the vine leaves, you can add more salt and chilli to the broth at this point if you wish to heighten the flavour during cooking.
6. Weigh down the vine leaves with a plate or similar, so that they do not unwrap while cooking.
7. Put the lid on your pot and cook on low heat until the leaves and rice are tender (approximately 1 hour).
8. Remove the lid and the plate/weight holding the leaves down, then let the vine leaves cool down.
9. Once sufficiently cooled, flip the pot onto a serving platter, they will come out in the shape of the pot, but you can separate them.
10. You can eat the Lebanese stuffed grape vine leaves hot or cold, but I personally prefer them eaten straight from the refrigerator.

Twists on my Recipe

I have also tried this recipe with other twists. Some of them have worked out well, like adding lentils in the mixture.

Or when I tried using nasturtium leaves instead of grape vine leaves… when my nasturtium plants were being especially prolific.

To be fair, the taste was actually great, but the idea of eating the nasturtium leaves, which are 100% edible, was still a little weird for me. If you can get over the mental part of it, they held together great, I have some pictures of the stuffed nasturtium leaves below.

If you have another take on this recipe, or you give this one a go, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me an email.

You can view my other recipes here.

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