Thursday, October 14, 2010

Daring to do it: Stuffed Grape Leaves

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

This was an intriguing challenge for me. I am not usually a fan of stuffed grape leaves. But I decided to give them a shot, to see if making my own might produce a product I liked better. Lori's one main requirement was that our leaves be stuffed with a rice-based filling. I chose to use brown rice, as I find it more flavorful and, honestly, it is what I keep around! I also added some chickpeas, sauteed onions and garlic and "spices."















Unfortunately, though, I encountered a bit of a snafu... My rolls unrolled themselves. I got a couple that stayed together, and got a photo, but most of them unraveled themselves. So we had un-stuffed grape leaves for dinner!








To accompany my Mediterranean feast I made some home made hummus (ok, chick pea spread... I didn't have tahini...) and some home made pita using the recipe from the Daring Cooks' mezze challenge. (I was not yet a Daring Cook then, but I hear great things about the recipe and decided it was worth a shot!)


Dinner was pretty good. I liked the stuffing, and we loved the pita and hummus. The grape leaves themselves? Not such a huge fan... But it was worth the attempt, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to try something which I otherwise never would have.

Thank you, Lori, for helping us learn something so new! It was a lot of fun! To see what my fellow Daring Cooks came up with, please look here!

11 comments:

  1. Wow, it's great that you were able to use grape leaves. Love the fact that you used brown rice in your filling. Great job :)

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  2. Unravelled or not, these look yummy! Great job!

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  3. It is great that you gave the challenge an honest attempt and that it was delicious un-stuffed. And yes the pita bread recipe is very good. Well done on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

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  4. Hooray! I'm glad you tried it! (My first set exploded all over the place, too, and I think it's because I didn't have them packed in tight enough on the pan. My successive attempts were better.)

    I adore Michele's pita bread, and I hope you did, too. :)

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  5. Ah to bad they unraveled but they still looks amazing. Love the filling you made

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  6. It certainly is an art form to tightly wrap the leaves without tearing them. I discarded any ripped leaves. Did you place a plate over the dolmehs after you put them in the pot? Not too much water and a low simmer for an hour. That's the way my family does it. I've had a few bombs with these challenges, too, but there's always the NEXT challenge to recharge your batteries!

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  7. Maybe I'm missing something but your rolls looked pretty good to me! I love your process pictures. I've really got to get my ducks in a line and start taking pictures during the cooking/baking process too :) Can't wait for our next challenge!!!

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  8. Your filling sounds so delicious and I love the idea of serving them with the homemade pita and hummus. Yum!

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  9. It's a pity your rolls unraveled. They were beautiful. Anyway they seem delicious and you did a great job at the end.

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  10. Bravo to you for giving it a try. That is what I love about DC and DB. I am glad you enjoyed the chick pea spread. That is always delicious for me.

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  11. Agter reading your post, now I wish I had done the grape leaves. Everyone seems to agree that Lori's recipe changed their original opinions of them. Yours look fabulous, and I love that you (like Shelley C) served them with homemade pita and hummus! What yummy meal!

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