Stuffed vine leaves are incomparably delicious. They take some time to make but the recipe is super simple and extremely worth it. This can work as a main dish, side dish or appetizer – the sky is the limit! Here’s everything you need to know to make your own delicious stuffed vine leaves.
The Simple Ingredients:
Stuffed vine leaves do not have complicated ingredients in the slightest. Basic herbs such as mint, parsley and chives are enough to give the leaves great flavour. You can use fresh or dry herbs, whichever you prefer.
You can also add in sauteed onions – so good. Just sautee them and add in with the other ingredients in the rice. You can also add chilli or pine nuts into the rice mixture – go with whichever flavours work for you!
As for the leaves, you can use small or large leaves, or a mix of both. I had a mix in my batch.
How to make the stuffed vine leaves?
In a large pot filled with boiling water, boil the vine leaves. They will float upwards, so with a spoon or a skimmer spoon, push the leaves down to submerge them as they boil. Do this for 5-10 minutes, depending on their freshness, or until the leaves are softened. Drain the leaves and leave them to cool.
Now move onto the rice. In a large pot, or the same one used for the vine leaves, pour in the rice, mint, parsley, chives, salt, olive oil, crushed garlic, cumin, black pepper, 1 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste and 500 ml of the boiling water. Stir on low heat for 8-10 minutes, or until the water is all absorbed. Leave to cool.
Now it’s time to wrap the leaves. The images below depict the best way to stuff the leaves. I always add around a teaspoon of the rice onto one vine leaf. Lay the leaf flat and fold in from the sides, wrapping the leaf vertically.
In a medium sized pot, lay down around 10 vine leaves flat at the bottom. This is to protect the stuffed leaves from burning as they cook. If you are running short on vine leaves you can use lettuce to cover the bottom of the pot too – they provide the same effect! Make sure to also cover up to the sides also, as you can see in the pictures below.
As you wrap each vine leaf, place them side by side in the pot. See photos for reference.
After you have wrapped all of your vine leaves all that is left is to cook them. Add half of the lemon slices on top of the stuffed vine leaves in the pot. Next plate on top of the leaves (yes, a plate). The plate provides weight and prevents the vine leaves from rising up while they boil, leaving them undercooked. I use a 20 cm wide pot so the plate I use is just less than that. I actually pile up two plates because mine are quite lightweight and only one plate won’t do a good job on its own.
Next, mix the remaining 1 tbsp of the sun-dried tomato paste and 1 litre of boiling water in a mixing jug until the tomato paste dissolves. Pour this into the pot, over the plate. Place the remainder of the lemon slices in the pot.
Close the lid of the pot and cook for 50 minutes on very low heat. Once cooked, leave for around 45 minutes with the lid on to rest so that the vine leaves set. Enjoy!
Vegan Stuffed Vine Leaves (Sarma)
Ingredients
- 300 g pudding rice
- 110 vine leaves
- 10 g dry mint
- 10 g dry parsley
- 7 g fresh chives
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1.5 litres boiling water
- 1 lemon sliced
Instructions
- In a large pot filled with boiling water, boil the vine leaves. They will float upwards, so with a spoon or a skimmer spoon, push the leaves down to submerge them as they boil. Do this for 5-10 minutes, depending on their freshness, or until the leaves are softened. Drain the leaves and leave them to cool.
- Now move onto the rice. In a large pot, or the same one used for the vine leaves, pour in the rice, mint, parsley, chives, salt, olive oil, crushed garlic, cumin, black pepper, 1 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste and 500 ml of the boiling water. Stir on low heat for 8-10 minutes, or until the water is all absorbed. Leave to cool.
- Now it's time to wrap the leaves. I always add around a teaspoon of the rice onto one vine leaf. Lay the leaf flat and fold in from the sides, wrapping the leaf vertically.
- In a medium sized pot, lay down around 10 vine leaves flat at the bottom. This is to protect the stuffed leaves from burning as they cook. If you are running short on vine leaves you can use lettuce to cover the bottom of the pot too - they provide the same effect! Make sure to also cover up to the sides also. As you wrap each vine leaf, place them side by side in the pot.
- After you have wrapped all of your vine leaves all that is left is to cook them. Add half of the lemon slices on top of the stuffed vine leaves in the pot. Next plate on top of the leaves (yes, a plate). The plate provides weight and prevents the vine leaves from rising up while they boil, leaving them undercooked. I use a 20 cm wide pot so the plate I use is just less than that. I actually pile up two plates because mine are quite lightweight and only one plate won't do a good job on its own.
- Next, mix the remaining 1 tbsp of the sun-dried tomato paste and 1 litre of boiling water in a mixing jug until the tomato paste dissolves. Pour this into the pot, over the plate. Place the remainder of the lemon slices in the pot.
- Close the lid of the pot and cook for 50 minutes on very low heat. Once cooked, leave for around 45 minutes with the lid on to rest so that the vine leaves set. Enjoy!