Yaprak Sarma Recipe Turkish Stuffed Grape Leaves

STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• Leave your grape leaves in cold water for couple of hours otherwise it will be too salty.
• Leave your rice in warm water (almost hot) for 20 minutes then strain.
• Take your 250 gr. ground beef, 1 cup of washed rice, 2 grated tomatoes, 3 finely chopped onions, 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley, 1/2 tbsp. pepper paste, 1/2 tbsp. tomato paste, 1/4 cup vegetable oil some salt and some black pepper in a large bowl. Knead it with your hands until all the ingredients combine very well. Your mixture is ready : )
• Grab your dutch oven, cover the bottom with grape leaves.
• Take on of your grape leaves, put 1 tbsp. of your mixture at the bottom of it, fold the edges and roll. You can see a detailled introduction on our below video. Align the rolls to your dutch oven one by one without leaving any space. If you leave spaces it will bloat and fall apart while cooking.
• Take your dutch oven to a medium heat. Melt 1 tbsp. beef bouillon in 2 cups of water and add it to your stuffed grape leaves. Cover the lid and cook about 35-45 minutes.
• While cooking the stuffed grape leaves, prepare your sauce. Heat your 2 tbsp. vegetable oil in a pan. Add 1 tbsp. tomato paste and 1 tbsp. dried mints, saute about 1-2 minutes. Take it off from the heat, add 1 cup of water and 1 fresh lemon juice, stir until dissolved.
• Take your stuffed grape leaves off from the heat after they are cooked. Hover your sauce over your stuffed grape leaves, cover the lid and rest it for about 1 hour.

YAPRAK SARMA RECIPE | TURKISH STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Steps:

• In a frying pan heat the oil and briefly sauté the onion until it becomes translucent.
• Add the rice, which you have previously washed and drained, and pour over 150 ml of water. Simmer over low heat until water begins to evaporate. Now add pine nuts, black currants, mint, parsley, dill, salt, and black pepper and all simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
• While the stuffing is cooling, prepare the leaves by washing them well in cold water. Separate the thicker and larger pieces of leaves and cover the bottom of the larger pot in which you will cook the sarma.
• Now wrap the stuffing in grape leaves as shown in the pictures. The goal is to get thin and long rolls.
• Arrange the sarma in a pot next to each other. To avoid opening, cover them with the rest of the leaves. Add one lemon sliced, pour over two tablespoons of olive oil and pour boiling water over everything so that the sarma is topped with water. Put on low heat to cook for 40-45 minutes.
• That's it. Yaprak sarma is done. Serve it cold as a starter or side dish, with the addition of yoghurt.