Stuffed grape leaves with rice and meat./Misov Sarma/
Delicious food serve hot as a main dish, on individual plate , topped with yogurt garlic sauce ; you can also serve as a side dish too.Enjoy
Ingredients:
I glass jar of 454g.(1 lb.) California YERGAT grape leaves
Stuffing:
1/2 kg. the leanest ground beef
1-1/2 cups of short grain rice washed and drained
2 freshly squeezed large lemon juice(1/3 cup)
2 medium finely chopped onions (1/2 cup finely chopped)
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup washed drained parsley leaves (1/2 cup chopped)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1teaspoon hot red pepper paste
1/2 teaspoon all spice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Water solution:
1 lemon juice
3 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried mint
4 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Preparation:
1.Rinse grape leaves, under running water,soak in cold water for 1 hour to remove extra salt,drain keep aside.
2.In a large glass bowl add washed rice ground meat,chopped onions.
3.In a container of hand blender add 3 cloves of garlic,lemon juice,parsley leaves ,tomato paste ,hot pepper paste,all spice black pepper and salt mix well until smooth mixture ,pour over the rice meat bowl mix with your hands very well .
4.Using scissor cut the short steam of each grape leave, arrange in a plate stuff grape leaves with 1 teaspoon or less with the meat mixture tuck both sides in and roll ,rolls should be firm,repeat until all the filling has been used.
5.Cover bottom of large deep pot with some unused grape leaves and layer rolled sarma on top, cover the top with grape leaves too,then place a heat resistant flat dish upside down on the sarmas with some kind of weight on top (I always put second deep dish on top of flat dish, and put garlic masher to weight it down, then cover with the pot lid and cook)
6.Mix tomato paste , with water pour over the sarma.
7.Mash garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt;Heat a small skillet at medium temperature add 2 tablespoons olive oil add mashed garlic saute’ for 1 minute add the dried mint ,saute’ for a second ,add lemon juice mix and pour over stuffed sarma’s.
8..Cover with lid and cook at medium /low heat for 2 hours.
Invert hot cooked sarma immediately onto a large plate and serve on individual plate topped with yogurt garlic sauce .
Yogurt garlic sauce:
Mash garlic with salt add to yogurt mix and serve,keep covered in fridge until serving time.
Tip: The large deep pot is essential we don’t want to overload the sarmas maximum 3 layers.
Sometimes grape leaves are small and you end up with few more , don’t throw them , wrap the leaves with food plastic and freeze them for next use.
