A Summer Dish: Stuffed Vine Leaves or "Dolmadakia"

If ever there was a dish that could be called the absolute summer Greek delicacy that must be "dolmadakia".

Dolmadakia is a vegetarian dish (although there are some variations that use ground beef or lamb) that are made with vine leaves, rice and herbs.

Try to imagine being on a Greek island (and I'm sure you've all heard of quite a few of them, among them Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Zante, Santorini, and Mykonos) and sitting at a taverna or restaurant with a view of the Mediterranean Sea. Then the waiter offers you the menu and you find yourself exclaiming: Stuffed vine leaves! I wonder how that would taste!

The answer is simple: absolutely delicious, filling, refreshing and unique!

But you might not have to ask yourself that question at all if you're willing to give this recipe a try. It might seem a bit hard to fold the vines leaves at first but it will be worth your effort as you will have in your hands no less than a culinary triumph that will impress even the most difficult food critics!

Ingredients

1 jar (16 ounce) preserved vine leaves

2 cups long grain rice, uncooked

1 small onion, grated or finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped

salt and ground black pepper

water

Instructions

Immerse the vine leaves in a pan of boiling water and let them blanch for about 2 minutes or until they soften.

Rinse the leaves under cold running water.

In a bowl mix the grated onion, chopped parsley and mint leaves and rice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place each leaf on a tray or board with the shiny side down. Place a spoonful of the rice mixture near the bottom of the leaf. Fold the bottom and sides to cover the filling and roll up tightly toward the tip of the leaf.

Leave about 10 vine leaves aside without stuffing.

Place the 10 vine leaves on the bottom of a casserole dish or pot. That way the "dolmadakia" on the bottom of the casserole won't get burnt.

Place the stuffed vine leaves in the casserole dish or pot, close together, with the seam side down.

Place a clay plate or dish on top of the stuffed vine leaves to keep them in place. That will prevent the rice from getting out of the leaves. Warning: the clay plate might be permanently stained.

Place the pot on the stove and cook over medium heat for about an hour or until the rice and the leaves are tender and the water absorbed.

Serve hot or cold. Traditionally, dolmadakia can be dipped in strained plain yogurt or sprinkled with lemon juice.