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Slow Cooked Beef-Stuffed Grape Leaves
The main ingredient in this recipe is grape leaves and you can find these near the pickles in the grocery store. The grape leaves are filled with ground meat, egg, dill, allspice, rice, parsley and lemon, and then slow-cooked to perfection in the crockpot. You should end up with about twenty-five dolmas, depending on the size of your grape leaves and how much filling you add to each leaf. Use a large crockpot for making this dolma recipe. Anything larger than three and a half quarts should be fine.
There are lots of recipes for stuffed grape leaves and you can experiment with various fillings. Onion, eggplant, zucchini, tomato, and bell pepper are popular vegetables to go in dolmas. Meatless ones are normally served cold and ones with meat are usually served hot, maybe with a sauce. Meatless ones might feature currants, raisins, nuts, or pulses. The word "dolma" comes from the Turkish verb "dolmak" which means to be stuffed.
Feel free to adapt the following recipe if you want. The recipe calls for ground turkey and ground lamb, but you could use just lamb or even ground beef if you prefer. The herbs and spices are interchangeable as well, and lime juice would be as good as lemon juice. White rice is more traditional than brown rice in stuffed vine leaf recipes and stuffed grape leaf recipes, but you could try using brown rice if you prefer the nutty flavor. If so, you might like to add some Parmesan cheese too, since that is lovely with brown rice.
How to Make Dolmas
Ingredients -
8 oz jar grape leaves
½ lb ground turkey breast
½ lb ground lamb
1 egg
2 lemons
1 teaspoon dill
1 teaspoon allspice
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup cooked white rice
Preparation:
Combine the ground lamb, turkey, egg, rice, spices, and the juice from 1 of the lemons in a bowl.
Mix well using your hands.
Drain and rinse the grape leaves.
Divide the meat mixture between the grape leaves and roll them up to make little packets.
The veined part of the leaf is usually inside, because they roll up easier this way.
Put the dolmas in the crockpot, stacking them when you need to.
Keep going until you run out of leaves or filling.
Squeeze the juice from the other lemon over the top of the dolmas.
Cover the crockpot and cook on high for 2 or 3 hours, or until the meat is cooked completely.
(Serves 6)
Dolmas Recipe
Photo Description:
You can serve extra lemon wedges on the side if you want, like you can see in the picture, but the dolmas have already had lemon juice squeezed over them so this is optional. You might like to serve some hummus on the side, or perhaps some tomato salsa or a mayonnaise or sour cream-based dip. They are not dry though, so a dipping sauce is optional. Dolmas are great appetizers and they are perfect party treats. Making them in a crockpot means you can prepare them in advance and just use the "keep warm" setting (if your crockpot has one) until the guests arrive.
