Recipe: Grape Leaves by Sahadi’s

Sahadi’s, the James Beard Award-winning gourmet shop in Brooklyn, shares this recipe for a signature Mediterranean dish to “Sunday Morning” viewers.

Grape Leaves

Ingredients:

1 lb. grape leaves
1 lb. coarse ground lamb
¾ cup rice
½ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. sea salt
¼ cup water
¼ cup garlic cloves
1 whole lemon

Instructions:

Rinse grape leaves well and cut stem. 

In a bowl mix ground lamb, rice, salt, pepper and water.  Stuff grape leaves with ½ tbsp. or more of rice mixture in following way: put mixture close to bottom where stem was, then fold and roll like you would a burrito. 

In a large pot, line the bottom with the rolled grape leaves and stack, alternating each layer in the opposite direction until they are all in. Fill pot with boiling water and add garlic cloves. Put a heavy dish on top to weigh the grape leaves down. 

Bring to a boil, and then lower the flame and simmer for about 45 minutes to one hour, or until leaves are tender but not falling apart. 

Drain water carefully and squeeze lemon over.  Place in a nice serving platter.

      
For more info: 

• Sahadi’s, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• “Flavors of the Sun: The Sahadi’s Guide to Understanding, Buying, and Using Middle Eastern Ingredients” by Christine Sahadi Whelan (Chronicle Books), pre-order, to be available September 2021 in Hardcover and eBook formats via Amazon and Indiebound