Our friends are just home from their honeymoon in Greece and as we are still new-fangled with Vefa’s Kitchen so we invited them over for a Greek Feast on Saturday night.
These vine leaves were a labour of love (they took me hours) but were well worth it and our friends reckoned they were better than any they had in Greece – though maybe they were just being nice. Perfect party food and can be made well in advance.
Dolmadakia gialantzi (Rice-stuffed Vine Leaves) – Serves lots of people!
- Rinse 500g vine leaves and trim off the stems.
- Add the leaves, a few at a time, to a pan of boiling water and blanch briefly, then drain, and leave to cool.
- Cover the bottom of a large, wide, heavy pan with some of the leaves.
- Put 175g finely chopped scallions and 2 large chopped onions into a colander, sprinkle with a little salt, and rub with your fingers. Rinse and drain, then squeeze out as much water as possible.
- Combine 500g medium-grain rice (we used basmati), the onions, 25g chopped parsley, 15g chopped dill, 225ml olive oil, 4 tablespoons pine nuts and 4 tablespoons currants in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Lay a leaf out flat, shiny side down. Put about 1 tablespoon of the mixture at the stem end in the middle, fold the sides over the filling, and loosely roll up into a parcel.
- Arrange the stuffed leaves in the lined pan, seam side down – you will have more than one layer.
- Pour over 225ml olive oil, 600ml boiling water, and 5 tablespoons of lemon juice.
- Invert a heavy plate on top of the parcels to stop them from opening while cooking.
- Cover the pan, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, and simmer until all the water has been absorbed (the recipe suggests 35-45 minutes but ours took much longer than this!).
- Remove from the heat, put a cotton cloth between the pan and the lid to absorb the steam, and allow to cool.
- Transfer to a serving platter and serve with Tzatziki or plain yoghurt.
Julie
These tasted great the day after too – best vine leaves ever! – Jono 🙂
Jono & Jules do food & wine 