Vegetarian Grape Leaves

Vegetarian Grape Leaves – A guilt-free and well known dish that can be served as an appetizer or as a main dish, vegetarian grape leaves! It’s wonderfully light, but satisfying meal that is tangy and soaked in juices of olive oil, lemon, veggies and spices. This dish is quite easy in terms of level of difficulty, but it is a bit time-consuming and even tedious. I made this recipe quicker by using the pressure cooker- instant pot!

Jump to Recipe

If you are a skeptic, just look below and see the beautiful results of my grape leaves! When rolling grape leaves. The rolling is a satisfying task especially when the final results of this savory dish are reaped.

Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker

The greatest recent invention in terms of kitchen appliances is definitely the instant pot. You can control the cooking temperatures and time unlike the old-fashioned pressure cookers. The instant pot has become a life-saver for lots of mothers around the world. Instead of waiting hours and hours for a meal to be ready in the oven or on the stove top, it takes minutes or max an hour or so. The instant pot has also taken the place of other appliances such as the rice cooker.

The Vegetarian Grape Leaves recipe, though a little time-consuming in preparation, needs a mere 18 minutes cook time in the instant pot. Stove-top grape leaves would need at least an hour and a half on low heat and about an hour on medium heat. That’s a lot of time saved!

---

Grape Leaves

Grape leaves are the leaves of what is called the grapevine plant. Yes, you read right! These are literally the leaves right off the vines that hold grapes. They are most popularly known for their use in this dish, otherwise called dolma, or stuffed grape leaves. But, they do have other edible uses. They can be cut up and used in soups, can be used raw as wrap (similar to lettuce), or in place of bread.

Grape leaves are usually brined, pickled, and canned or jarred. I usually purchase from a few different brands like Orlando California which you can find at Walmart, Amazon or local middle eastern markets! Another brand I use is by Al Afi.

You can pick your own grape leaves! Some ways to store grape leaves include dry pickling which is where they are intricately folded and packed tightly into airtight containers. You can also store freshly picked leaves in freezer bags and freeze them raw, or boil them for about fifteen minutes, and then freeze them. Remove them a few hours before use to thaw out.

---

Some benefits of grape leaves include:

• high in fiber
• low in calories
• improve blood circulation
• high in antioxidants
• rich in vitamins K and A

Stuffing for the Vegetarian Grape Leaves Recipe

The stuffing is comprised of veggies and rice. Basically, you’re making tabouli (tabbouleh/tabbouli) but with a slight variation. In tabouli salad, you add bulgur to the veggies, in this stuffing you replace it with rice. You finely chop onions, tomatoes, and parsley and you add the rice. Then, you add the seasonings required in the recipe. These are the basic components for the stuffing!

Tips:

• you can switch out dried mint for fresh mint
• instead of red or white onions, you can use scallions
• instead of seven spices you can use cumin, or use both
• you can use rice of your choice; works great with basmati or long grain rice
• if you don’t have curly parsley, flat-leaf parsley will do just fine

Rolling

I can’t say there’s one special or specific technique for rolling. The one included in the steps of the recipe is great and simple. It’s important to know that the leaf must be rolled tightly so that it doesn’t come apart while cooking. It also makes for a nicer presentation when they’re tightly rolled. Furthermore, it’s essential you ensure that the rough side (or raised side) is facing up and the smooth side is what shows after rolling.

Another important thing to know is that you shouldn’t overdo the stuffing. This will cause your grape leaves to fall apart. If the rice is plenty and it expands from the broth, it can tear your leaf and leave you with a mushy mess. Also, after you fold the sides of the leaf over the stuffing, make sure you slightly pull the leaf toward you as your rolling. This ensures a tighter grip of the leaf over the stuffing.

It’s worth noting that you can also use a grape leaf roller if your nervous about rolling the perfect grape leaf. Though my personal experience is that hand-rolled are just prettier and yummier!

Layering

A creative way to cook this Vegetarian Grape Leaves recipe is to layer it. What do I mean you ask? Simple! Get some more yummy veggies and the added extra vitamins and nutrients. You can layer the bottom of the pot with potatoes cut into round chip-form. This also helps the grape leaves from sticking if you’re cooking in a regular pot over stove-top heat. Plus, the potatoes soaked in the succulent lemony broth are to die for!

On top of the potatoes obviously goes a layer or two of the dolma, or stuffed grape leaves. Then you can add a layer of carrots, thinly sliced length-wise. Then layer with dolma and continue with every two layers of grape leaves a layer of either potatoes or carrots or mix them together.

Tips

If you have extra room in your pot, have extra stuffing, and some zucchini on hand then try the following. Core your zucchini, stuff it with the vegetarian stuffing, and line your pot with it. It’s soooo delicious and a great way to add even more veggies and flavors to an already flavorful dish.

---

Ingredients for Vegetarian Grape Leaves

Grape Leaves and Stuffing

• pickled grape leaves
• chopped onions
• diced tomatoes 
• chopped curly parsley 
• salt
• dried mint
• lemon juice or citric acid
• olive oil
• short grain rice
• seven spices (all spice)

Broth

• seven spices (all spice)⁣
• salt
• lemon juice or citric acid
• olive oil

How to prepare vegetarian grape leaves

1. Soak grape leaves in water for 15 minutes, then place in strainer. ⁣
2. Mix the stuffing ingredients then place in another strainer and over a bowl to collect the juice.  Taste it and adjust salt if needed.⁣
3. Get a grape leaf and cut the stem off.  Lay it flat on a hard surface, rough side facing up.  Fill with about ½ tablespoon of stuffing.⁣
4. Fold from the right side of the leaf, then left side and begin tightly rolling. Place in the pot. ⁣
5. Tip: Lay about 6 leaves at once and place filling on each and roll one by one for quicker results.⁣
6. Once finished, strain the juice of the rice mixture and add over the rolled leaves in the pot. ⁣
7. In a bowl add the “broth mixture” ingredients listed above then mix, taste, and pour over the rolled leaves placed in pot. ⁣
8. Set pressure cooker on rice mode for 18 minutes.

---

Frequently asked questions

Recipes you might want to try

• Cauliflower Tahini Bake
• Greek Salad on Naan Bread
• Tomato Parmesan Spaghetti
• Apple Crisp
• Red Lentil Soup

---