I’ve been blogging a while on a few of the items I have been making that have a Greek accent. I have enjoyed rolling grape leaves with a favorite stuffing of rice, onions, garlic, various seasonings and beef or lamb. Delicious!
However, one blogger told me that he didn’t know how to roll grape leaves and asked for help, and he wasn’t alone. Here’s how to do it:
1) Lay out your grape leaves as shown above starting from left to right with each leaf overlapping the one slightly vertically… and horizontally.
2) place your filling as shown… it doesn’t take very much as you will see
3) lift the far left edges of the leaves and roll firmly
4) when you reach the far right… tuck both the top edge and bottom edge under.
There is a process for treating the leaves if you use fresh that isn’t too difficult and you should be able to find it on-line. The real challenge for many is if you buy the kind that comes in a jar. The interesting thing is that typically, each jar has two rolls and each can be removed if you take out the last roll placed in the jar…first. Look carefully and you will clearly see that one was placed in last. Gently separate the leaves and place in a large bowl and pour boiling water over them ( to reduce the saltiness) and rinse careful a couple of times.
Hope this helps. Greek Dolmades Recipe
Roger