Syrian Stuffed Vine Leaves
These deliciously sticky, tender Syrian stuffed vine leaves are filled with lemony, garlicky rice and cooked over a bed of chicken legs.
Servings: 8 -10 servings
Calories: 468kcal
Ingredients
- 4 cups long grain rice 1 kg
- 2 jars grape/vine leaves in brine each jar 12.3 oz/ 350 g drained net weight
- 1 large bunch parsley
- 1 handful Syrian mint or regular if you cannot find the original
- 1 large onion
- 2 ½ bulbs garlic that's right – whole bulbs, divided
- 2-3 teaspoons cayenne pepper to taste
- 2 heaped tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 heaped tablespoon ground black pepper
- 4-5 teaspoons sea salt to taste, divided
- 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses divided
- 1¼ cup concentrated tomato paste 270 g
- 1 cup olive oil 250 ml
- 1 scant cup lemon juice from a bottle, divided, 200 ml
- 3 large chicken quarters
- Greek or Turkish yogurt to serve
Instructions
Filling for the stuffed vine leaves:
- Soak rice: Place the rice in a large bowl, pour boiling water over to cover it, and let soak for 1 hour. Massage the rice with your hand to clean it, drain it through a fine-mesh sieve, and wash it again under running water very well. Let drain well and place it in a large bowl.
- Prepare the vine leaves: While the rice soaks, drain the two grape leaves jars. Carefully take the leaves apart and remove the stems. If some of the leaves break, you can put some pieces together when filling them and still be able to get a nice roll.
- Cook the vine leaves: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the leaves for about 15 minutes, turning them around in the water 3 or 4 times in between. Drain well.
- Prepare ingredients: While the leaves are cooking chop the onion and the herbs as finely as possible. Peel the cloves of 1 ½ of the garlic bulbs and grate them finely.
- Mix filling ingredients: Add the onions, herbs, and garlic to the drained rice. Add the cayenne pepper, sweet paprika, black pepper, and about 2 teaspoons of the salt. Mix well, add 2 tablespoons of the pomegranate molasses, about 170 g/ 6 oz/ ¾ cup of the tomato paste, the olive oil, and about half of the lemon juice. Mix very well with your hands.
Prepare the vine rolls:
- Take a very large pot and place the chicken quarters in it.
- Stuff vine leaves: Place one or two grape leaves on your left palm (if you are right-handed). If you have some broken leaves, place more of them on your palm, so that you have a nice even layer.
- Add rice: Place a small amount of the filling about 1 cm above the base of the grape leaves.
- Start rolling, first the lower side over the filling, then the left and right side over the filling, then again from below, forming a relatively tight roll.
- Assemble the pot: Place each roll in the pot on top of the chicken legs, starting circularly around the edge of the pan and continuing with smaller circles towards the middle of the pan. You will have several layers.
Cook the vine leaf rolls:
- Place a large plate, upside down, on top of the rolls in the pot. Fill a metal bowl with water and place this on top of the plate. You have to do this so that the rolls will stay put in the pan and not flow around when you add the cooking liquid.
- Mix liquid ingredients: Pour 10.5 cups/ 2 ½ liter of boiling water into a jug. Grate the remaining bulb of garlic and add the garlic to the jug. Add the remaining lemon juice, the remaining tomato paste, the remaining tablespoon of molasses, and the remaining salt (2-3 teaspoons to taste). Mix well and taste; it should taste salty and lemony.
- Carefully add about ¾ of this mixture to the pot with the grape leaves. Pour the HOT liquid slowly into the pot around the edges of the upside plate in the pot.
- Cook Syrian stuffed leaves: Turn the heat on high and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour. Reduce the heat to low and cook for another ½ hour.
- Check doneness: Take one roll out of the pan and check to see if the rice is tender. It should be really soft and a bit sticky. If it's not done, add some more of the reserved cooking liquid and continue cooking on low, checking from time to time, until the rice is soft, about 20-30 minutes more. Use as much of the remaining liquid as needed to keep the rolls stewing in it, but you don't have to use it all.
- Serve hot with the chicken legs and yogurt or at room temperature with yogurt.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 468kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 2100mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 9g