Stuffed Grape Leaves -ورق عنب

Ah, stuffed grape leaves, bite-size pieces of heaven. This special dish is a top favorite of mine, I have yet to meet someone from the Middle East who does not love this dish to death. This dish can be made with meat or without meat. If it is made with meat then it is called either Dawali, Waraq Enab, or Dolma. If it is made without meat then it can hold various different names, Waraq Enab Bil Zeit (stuffed Grape Leaves cooked in oil), Yalanci, or Yabra. Despite the name or the form that it comes in, one thing that can be known for sure is that it is finger-licking good. This entry will talk about the Waraq Enab with meat.

Everyone has their own additions and subtractions when coming to make this dish, yet the ingredients required to make my mama’s Waraq Enab are:

• Grape leaves
• Long Grain Rice
• Ground Beef
• All Spice
• Onions
• Tomato
• Water
• Vegetable Oil

Preparation- When an individual comes and looks at a dish like Waraq Enab, all they think about is the appearance and the taste of the food. They don’t take into account the time and effort it took in order to make this amazing dish. For starters, the first thing that one must do in order to create this amazing dish is to find the best grape leaves and make sure they are fresh and torn apart or black. The next is step is to create the filling, this filling consists of rice, meat mixed together with some vegetable oil and seasoned with allspice and salt. While the filling is being created, the grapevine leaves should be boiled in order for them to be flexible and give them the form they are required to have.

Cooking- Before placing the stuffed leaves into the pot, my mom prefers to cover the bottom of the pot with chopped tomatoes and onions for a bit of flavor, then she stacks the stuffed leaves into the pot, pours hot water over the pot, covers it. Leaving the dish to cook on the stove for 2 hours under low heat

The best thing to accompany this dish is a side salad of cucumbers, garlic, and plain yogurt, short ribs are also a tasty side accompanying the stuffed leaves. This dish can be eaten for lunch, or as a late-night dinner. Cold, warm, or piping hot it is delicious either way.