Stuffed vine leaves are one of the most loved
dishes all over the Middle East. Buying, handling and stuffing vine leaves
is sometimes confusing for some people. When you know the basics for the
process, you’ll realize that preparing and cooking vine leaves is not that
difficult.
Buying tip
Select the leaves that are smooth, medium
light green, average size and not thick.
Best season
Beginning of summer; April, May, and June
when the grapes are all covered with leaves.
Soak vine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes.
You can untie the bunches or leave them tied up, you can also add very
little soap to the soaking water. Drain water and start washing vine
leaves one by one rubbing them with your fingers. Leave to drain well.
Fill ¾ a deep large pan with water over high
heat, and bring to boil. Insert every 4-5 leaves into the water at a time
until they turn brownish green (30 seconds to 3 minutes depending on type
and thickness of leaves).
Remove from water with a slotted spoon or
spatula and place in a colander. Repeat with the rest of the leaves.
Freeze vine leaves after boiling. Follow the
same steps in boiling vine leaves except that you insert the vine leaves
in boiling water and lift them right after their color begins to change.
Don’t leave them more than 1 ½ minute. Leave to drain very well. Arrange
leaves on top of each other in plastic bags. Put every 25-30 leaves in
each plastic bag of medium size. Remove excess air, close well and place
in the freezer.
To defrost, just get the bag out of freezer
and leave it until ice melts. You can remove leaves from inside the bag
and leave to defrost. Run cold water through them.
This way allows you to preserve vine leaves in
the fridge without having to boil or freeze them. Wash leaves and leave
them to drain very well.
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1.
Tie every 25 leaves together by their stems
with a thread.
2.
Fold the leaves to make a thick
stick. You can tie the stick with a thread to be firm.
3.
Arrange the sticks in a standing position in a
glass container with a lid.
4.
Pour hot water with salt over the leaves in
the container to fill almost all the container (for every 2 cups of water,
add ¼ cup of salt). Leave to cool then close container tight and place in
the fridge. Leave vine leaves stored that way for maximum one month. When
you are ready to use, get leaves out of the container, unfold and rinse
them with cold water.
