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Vegan, Gluten Free Greek Dolmades – Stuffed Vine/Grape Leaves Rolls

Yields50 ServingsPrep Time40 minsCook Time40 minsTotal Time1 hr 20 mins

Traditional Greek Vegan Dolmades with vine leaves, rice & lots of spring herbs! Ideal for an appetizer as well as a main meal.

 400 g vine leaves fresh at spring time or leaves in a jar with brine for the winter (400g is about 50-60 leaves)
 400 g Carolina rice
 250 g spring onions or normal onions for winter time
 50 g fresh dill
 10 g fresh spearmint (or more because it considers that has digestive properties)
 15 g fresh oregano or half the amount for dry oregano
 1 tbsp salt
 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
 ⅔ cup cup oil (my grandmother used 3 times this amount)
 1 lemon, its juice only
1

First you have to soften the vine leaves. In a pot of boiling water, put them straight inside and leave them for 1-2 minutes. Strain them and spread them, with the ribs upwards, to cool.

2

Wash the rice and leave it in lukewarm water while you cutting the vegetables.

3

Finely chop the spring onions, dill, spearmint and oregano with a knife.
- If we use normal onions, it is good to sauté them with a little water in a pan until translucent, so that calm their strong pungent flavor. In this case, at the end we remove the pan with sauté onions from the heat, mix them with the washed and drained rice, cover it with a lid and leave it aside

4

In a bowl, mix the spring onions, herbs, rice after draining it, salt, pepper and about 1/3 of the oil.

5

Now that the leaves have cooled, cut the stalks and keep them aside.

6

In a pot (size of about 4 liters), spread the stalks from vine leaves. You can also put the stalks of spearmint, oregano and if they are not enough, we also put some wooden sticks of skewers. On top lay 4-6 vine leaves, the thickest ones.

7

Place one vine leaf on a flat surface, with its shiny side down, remove any thick veins from the edge of the vine leaf.

8

Put a spoonful of the rice filling in the center.

9

Fold the two sides of the vine leaf inward and then roll up but not too tight so that the rice can bloat without tearing the vine leaf. Also have to be careful with the wrapping so that the filling cannot escape during boiling. Check out the wrap video below.

10

Arrange the dolmades close together, but not tightly, in rows in the pot.

11

Similarly, make the rest of the dolmades until the filling and vine leaves are finished.

12

Pour over them the remaining oil and lemon juice and cover them with an inverted plate to hold them firmly during cooking so that they do not fall apart while cooking.

13

Place a weight on the plate so that the dolmades do not “dance” and unfold. If you also have a stone like I do, even better so that it has weight and does not fall apart.

14

Pour boiling water over them, just enough to cover them and let them boil.

15

As soon as they start to boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 40 Minutes so that they absorb all the water.

16

Remove the pot from the heat and let the dolmades cool down well before removing them from pot. This way they will also absorb all liquids left on the pot.

Nutrition Facts

Servings 0