Tried grape leaves for the first time today

[baking fool]

I'd never smelled anything like them before. I sort of recognised it though & couldn't stop smelling them, trying to figure out what it was that they smelled like. I made dolmadakia gialantzis (grape leaves stuffed with rice) & they were very tasty, but kind of fragile. can't wait to cook something with them again

 

[Bev Stayart]

Grape leaves are delicious.

 

[larry_stewart]

when u make them, if you wrap them tightly, then they are not as fragile. When they are loose, they kinda break and the rice falls out all over the place.

 

[lyndalou]

I make stuffed grape leaves with rice and ground lamb. You do have to roll them tightly, and place them seam side down in your pot. They should be crowded together so that they can't float and lose the filling. I place a plate on top of them while they are simmering. Works for me.

 

[baking fool]

i knew about packing them tightly in the pot, seam side down but i might have been able to wrap them tighter. i was a bit worried about tearing the leaves. anyway i just think of it was practice for next time

 

[Saphellae]

Try adding a couple of tomatoes and a bit of tomato paste into the Dolmadakia next time - it tastes amazing! And always use fresh mint, and dill if you like it.

 

[Claire]

I've stopped making them entirely, as husband has found a brand of canned that he likes. It isn't that they are difficult, just that they are time consuming and a jar of the leaves makes about two million (OK, I'm -- holy boloney, I've forgotten how to spell exagerate. What is wrong with me?) and I wind up with enough to feed a small platoon who actually like them. My husband says he loves them, as do my friends, but after a party, I have a dozen or more left, and it isn't worth the trouble (actually, most are scarfed up by any guests of southern European/North African background, so they must be good). I lightly steam a rice/nut mixture in a white wine-lemon-garlic liquid. I've occaisionally made them with some ground lamb in them as well. My husband does truly love them, but only so many can be eaten by a man with blood sugar issues. So I buy a can now and then.