Lebanese Grape Leaves

Total Time: 2 hrs 16 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 16 mins

Ingredients

• 2 (16 ounce) jars grape leaves
• 2 1/4 lbs ground lamb
• 2 1/4 cups long grain rice
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 12 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon mint
• 3 lemons

Recipe

• 1 place rice in a medium sized bowl and cover with 3 cups of cold water.
• 2 let stand for 30-60 minutes.
• 3 drain and rinse grape leaves in a colander.
• 4 cut leaves in half removing the thick center stem.
• 5 save five or six large leaves for bottom of pan- discard any extremely tough or ragged leaves.
• 6 drain all water from rice.
• 7 add lamb, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.
• 8 mix by hand thoroughly.
• 9 line bottom of large kettle or dutch oven with five or six large leaves to prevent scorching.
• 10 lay a leaf flat on a plate, shiny side down.
• 11 put approximately 1 heaping teaspoon of meat mixture towards bottom of leaf.
• 12 roll in one edge to seal, then roll leaf up firmly but not too tight (you need to leave a little room for the rice to expand while cooking).
• 13 place leaves in kettle in circular fashion leaving a small circle in the center for water to circulate.
• 14 when you have one full row on bottom of pan, slice two cloves of garlic over the top of the leaves.
• 15 sprinkle with a little of the mint.
• 16 continue rolling the leaves and layering them with the garlic/ mint.
• 17 you should have approximately five rows of leaves when you are done.
• 18 place a heatproof plate over the top of the leaves- large enough to hold them in place, but with a little room on the edges.
• 19 put a bowl on top of the plate filled with water to hold the plate down while cooking.
• 20 fill kettle with water over the top of the plate.
• 21 cook on top of stove on high heat until it begins to boil.
• 22 lower heat to medium so that water does not boil over and continue cooking.
• 23 total cooking time after it starts to boil is 16-19 minutes.
• 24 remove bowl.
• 25 carefully drain water from kettle.
• 26 remove plate.
• 27 arrange leaves on a platter.
• 28 serve with lemon wedges.