A quick and easy recipe to make vegetarian/vegan stuffed grape leaves. Or "unstuffed" grape leaves, which are even faster! Gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and very yummy!
Prep Time25 minutesmins
Stuffing time - optional20 minutesmins
Course: Dinner, lunch or dinner, Main Course, main dish, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: Middle Eastern-ish
Keyword: delicious, gluten-free, healthy, vegan
Servings: 34stuffed grape leaves
Ingredients
1.5cupscooked brown rice (or another cooked grain, such as millet or quinoa)- you can cook this from 1/2 cup of rice and 1 cup of water
1.5cupschickpeas- this is the amount in one can
1/2cuptomato, diced- optional!
1-4tablespoonsfresh dill, chopped - plenty!- if fresh dill is not in season, a couple of teaspoons of dried dill will work too
3-6clovesgarlic, pressed in a garlic press, or chopped
1teaspoon sea salt
1lemon, juicedabout 4 tablespoonfuls
4tablespoons olive oil
34grape leaves - either fresh-cut or in a glass jar in brine
Instructions
If your rice (or millet or quinoa) is uncooked, start cooking it.
If you are using fresh grape leaves, heat about a quart of water to boiling. Rinse the individual leaves, then add them all to the pot. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain (a colander works well). Return them to the pot and add enough cold water to cover the leaves.If you are using jarred grape leaves, rinse them under running water. You can optionally boil them as described above.
Put the chickpeas in a big bowl. Mash them with a potato masher or a fork, until they are chunky.
Depending on how you feel about eating raw garlic, you can optionally put the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the garlic for 3-5 minutes. Or just use it raw.
Now add all the ingredients for the filling to the chickpeas. Stir.
Put a grape leaf on a flat surface, with the veined side facing up and the stem facing toward you.
Put some filling on the grape leaf, about 1/3 of the way away from you. The amount of filling to use varies a lot, depending on the size of a grape leaf. Usually an average-sized grape leaf can take about 2 teaspoons of filling, while an enormous one can hold 2 tablespoons. If you are not sure, it's always better to use slightly less.
Fold the bottom of the grape leaf up, over the filling. (See pictures above!) Then fold the sides in, like an envelope. Then roll the filling upward, so that you end up with a tiny cigar shape.
Repeat for all of the grape leaves.
Or, the faster option for "unstuffed grape leaves" is that instead of rolling them, you can chop up the grape leaves and mix them in with the fillings. Either way: Yum!
You can serve these plain, or serve them with other Middle Eastern foods such as falafel and hummus.