“The kid had been roasted with lemon and honey. With it were grape leaves stuffed with a melange of raisins, onions, mushrooms, and fiery dragon peppers. ’I am not hungry,’ Arianne said…After a while, hunger weakened her resolve, so she sat and ate.” -A Feast for Crows
Stuffed Grape leaves
Our Thoughts:
These beauties brought rave reviews even from those of our taste testers who claim to dislike grape leaves. The filling is tender and flavorful, with each taste taking a turn on your palate. The savoriness of the lamb vies with the sweetness of the raisins, while still allowing the heat of the peppers out to play.
Get the recipe in The Cookbook!
looks lovely. I wonder if anyone has a suggestion for a vegan alternative to ground lamb? Seitan?
It won’t have the flavor of lamb, but I often use cous cous instead of meat in dolmas.
I would just leave it out personally, since the original didn’t call for it. That said: either lentils or seitan would work.
Traditional stuffed graped leaves are generally either stuffed with rice or a combination of beef and lamb. If I was you, I’d use some Smart Ground (or other ground beef alternative) and use that.
I have a half dozen grape plants in the back yard and have been looking at some of the big leaves for some time now. How would one prep them to use in this recipe rather than using jarred ones? Any ideas?
It is possible to just use the wild grape leaves as they are; I have done it in the past. They do not hold together as well as the jarred grape leaves, but they do work.
I wonder if I could just go to one of the dozens of vineyards and just ask for grape leaves…. LOL. this sounds and looks beautifully delicious!
Here’s an article about using fresh grape leaves for dolmas. It does include a vegetarian recipe. Personally, I’d use lentils or tvp to replace the lamb. –
http://www.groworganic.com/organic-gardening/articles/use-your-fresh-grape-leaves-to-make-dolmas
And another for just preparing them for freezing.
http://mamastaverna.com/how-to-prepare-grape-leaves-for-dolmades-ampelofylla-yia-ntolmades/
This one tells about brining your own grape leaves, but you might have to fuss to get it to work, because half the time when I tried to access it, it said the domain was for sale.
http://www.kalofagas.ca/2008/06/15/preserving-grape-vine-leaves/
Meant to thank you for these links. They were very useful. I’ll have to do it with the new grape leaves in the spring though I have all these large end of season leaves that are going to waste. :(
Just an odd random fact. Grape leaves are sometimes used in place of alum to give green pickles crunch and colour. Given when people usually do canning, I’m assuming they would use older leaves that wouldn’t be useful as wrappings. In case you wanted a use for the large end of season leaves.
I assume the rice goes into the meat mixture? It’s not mentioned after it’s cooked, or did I miss it?
Yep! It goes in after the mixture comes off the stove.
Reading the quote from the book, I’d say the kid (goat) wasn’t included in the grape leaves at all. They were served as a side dish to the roasted kid. That being said, your recipe still looks delicious!
Agreed! We originally made these grape leaves as part of our Casual Dornish Dinner, in which we served kid on the side. That said, I lived in Turkey for a year, and there was always ground lamb in my “mom’s” grape leaves, so I included it in this recipe.
You can never have too much lamb. ; )
THIS IS A FANCY “T A M A L”. Commonly know as and a basic part of Central America’s food.
The biggest difference is the leaves. They dont use grape leaves, they use banano leaves