Flavourful Dolmas

UmmBinat's Note:

Modified from the recipe, Stuffed Grape Leaves With Egg-Lemon Sauce by Sy to make it halal and tweak to our taste. It would not let me add the correct cooking time which is more like 70 minutes.

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 6.0 As a fu ...

Dolmas

• 2 onions, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped finely
• 2 tablespoons butter (I use sweet butter for all recipes and add sea salt to taste)
• 1 lb ground beef (I use extra lean and add some oil in it so it won't be dry)
• 1/2 cup white basmati rice
• 1 tablespoon dried mint (substitute, 2 tablespoons fresh mint chopped)
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped finely
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts (optional, I have yet to try with them)
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) jar grape leaves
• 1 dash good olive oil
• 3 cups chicken broth (I use homemade)
• 1 lemon, juice of

Yogurt Sauce

• 1 cup balkan yogurt (thick consistency, otherwise known as Greek yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed (or to taste, amount is a guess)
• sea salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Remove grape leaves from the jar and open up leaves into casserole dish or equivalent. Unroll somewhat and pour over some cool tap water to soak a little.
2. Meanwhile sauté onions and celery in 1 tablespoon butter, until soft.
3. In a large bowl add ground beef, onion and celery, rice, mint, parsley, pine nuts if using, sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste, mix well.
4. Remove one leaf (the bigger the better) and place onto a flat surface; with the shiny side down.
5. Place a small amount of the filling toward the stem side of the leaf and then roll up (you may see a demo of how to here, http://www.food.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=250725 yet I like to remove the stem if they are not already removed).
6. Add a dash olive oil to the bottom of a pot and line with some of the riped or not so good looking grape leaves. Place the finished dolmas one by one in a single close to each other layer in the pot. Make the next layer in the opposite direction and so on.
7. Add chicken stock, juice of the lemon and remaining tablespoon of butter.
8. In order to prevent the grape leaves from opening up during cooking, place a small plate on top of the grape leaves and press down.
9. Then cover and bring to a boil.
10. Lower heat and simmer covered for about 1 hour.
11. While cooking make the Yogurt Sauce. To do this mix the Yogurt sauce ingredients well and add sea salt to taste.
12. Serve dolmas warm spooning sauce on top as desired.
13. Enjoy!