Mahshi warak enab – Grape leaves stuffed with herby meat and ricefeatured

Warak enab- juicy, tangy, herby, packages of goodness, these meat and rice stuffed grape leaves are a show stopping family favourite.

Warak enab is one of my all time favourite foods.

It is part of class of foods known in Arabic as mahashi- stuffed stuff. We love to stuff all types of vegetables with either meat and rice fillings, or vegan rice and herb options. Among these dishes arak enab is considered a top tier fan fav.

For another popular and delicious option, check out my Egyptian stuffed vegetables post, where I show you how to stuff and cook eggplants, squash, tomatoes, onions and more! Or for a juicy, herbaceous vegan mahshi dish, try my mahshi kromb- Egyptian cabbage rolls!

Warak enab is the one dish I always ask my mom to make when I am going back home to Toronto to visit. These meat and rice stuffed grape leaves are cooked in a tangy and lemony broth. Known in Egypt as mahshi warak enab, they are known elsewhere as warak dawali, warak arish, dolma, dolamdes, and the list goes on…

They are flavourful and juicy and just perfect really. All the kids in my family loved them. We would inhale them at every family gathering.

Now that I make my own warak enab, I’m really amazed by how often my mom and Teta would make these for us. While they aren’t difficult to make, they are time consuming.

They take time and patience to roll but are generally gobbled up so fast, which is part of the chef’s reward, really.

If I’m rolling these alone, like to set myself up to roll while watching TV or with some great music playing. The process is part therapeutic, part a pain in the neck (literally), but they are worth it.

But the best way to roll a pot of warak is with someone you love. If this dish is part of your cultural heritage, and you have kids, grab them to work alongside you, or at least to give you a neck massage afterwards.

Making warak enab

Preparing the stuffing is simple. Just mix ground meat with well-washed short or medium grain rice. Add finely chopped parsley, cilantro, tomato paste, garlic, and spices.

Mix well, preferably with your hands.

Rolling your warak enab

Rolling the leaves is also pretty simple, once you get the hang of it. Luckily if you are making a whole pot of these you will be getting lots of practice as you go!

But first, of course, you will need some grape leaves. If you are lucky, you may be able to buy or forage some fresh grape leaves in the Spring or Summertime.

But if not, grab yourself a jar of high quality grape leaves in brine, such as these Orlando brand grape leaves from your local Middle Eastern grocer or online at the link.

Visuals really help in explaining the rolling process, so here are the steps in pictures.

Preparing the pot

Cooking and serving warak enab

If you have extra leaves you can cover the rolled leaves with a few, then pour broth over the leaves until they are just covered. If you don’t have enough broth just top it up with water.

Next, find a plate or pot lid that fits just inside the pot and lay it down over the grape leaves. The plate will weigh them down so they do not float and unroll.

Bring to a boil, then cover and cook over low heat for about an hour. They are done when the leaves are tender and easily pull apart with a fork. Once they seem done, add lemon juice to the pot and cook for another 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let them sit 10-15 minutes.

For serving you have two options. You can remove and arrange the grape leaves on a platter (retain the cooking liquid for reheating leftovers). If you’d like to invert the pot onto a platter instead, carefully pour off most of the cooking liquid (but don’t discard it!), cover the pot with the platter and quickly put carefully flip it

We love to have this with cucumber and yogurt salad, but is great with plain regular yogurt for dipping as well.

Bel hana wel shifa!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Mahshi warak enab – Grape leaves stuffed with herby meat and rice

Tangy grape leaves are stuffed with meat and rice, onions, garlic and plenty of herbs and spices, then simmered in broth until juicy and tender.

Prep Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Course: Dinner, Main Course, mezze, Side Dish

Cuisine: African, Egyptian, Middle Eastern

Keyword: dolma, grape leaves, ground meat, mahshi, Rice, stuffed

Author: Dahlia

Equipment

• Large pot

Ingredients

Stuffing (hashwa)

• 1½ cups Egyptian or calrose rice washed (substitute other small or medium grain rice)
• 1 lb ground beef or lamb
• 1 onion finely minced
• 1 cup parsley finely chopped
• 1 cup cilantro finely chopped
• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp Aleppo pepper or chili flakes optional
• ½ tsp cardamom
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp kosher salt crystals half the amount if substituting coarse salt or table salt
• black and white pepper freshly ground to taste

For the leaves and pot

• 1 lb grape leaves
• 1 head garlic cloves peeled
• 4 cups chicken stock preferably homemade
• 3 lemons juiced

Optional additions to pot

• 1 medium potato thinly sliced
• 2 small tomatoes thinly sliced

Instructions

For stuffing

• Mix together all ingredients for stuffing.

For grape leaves

• If using jarred grape leaves, remove from jar, and rinse brine off the leaves.
• Line the bottom of your pot with a few grape leaves, if you have some torn leaves use those here.
• If using, create a layer of potatoes and/or tomatoes next.

Rolling grape leaves

• Lay a grape leaf down on your work surface smooth side down. Snip off but reserve stem. Place about 1 tsp of stuffing on the leaf, as pictured.
• Tightly fold up bottom of leaves, then fold in each side, and roll upwards. Do not use too much filling, smaller, tighter rolls are preferable. If your leaves are very large, cut them in half lengthwise and make two rolls from each large leaf.
• Begin lining pot with rolled grape leaves. Scatter stems and peeled garlic cloves throughout the pot as you go. When you’re done, cover the rolled leaves with any extra leaves you may have.

Cooking grape leaves

• Make sure your chicken stock is well seasoned, and add salt if necessary. Then pour stock over rolled leaves until they are just covered.
• Lay a plat down on top of the grape leaves to weigh them down. This ensures they remain submerged and do not unroll while cooking.
• Heat over medium-high heat until stick begins to boil. Once boiling turn down to low, cover, and cook for about an hour. They are done when the leaves are tender and easily pull apart with a fork. Once they seem done, add lemon juice and cook for another 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let them sit 10-15 minutes.

To serve

• You can remove and arrange the grape leaves on a platter (retain the cooking liquid for reheating leftovers). If you’d like to invert the pot onto a platter, carefully pour off most of the cooking liquid (but don’t discard it!), cover the pot with the platter and invert.
• Serve with cucumber and yogurt salad.

Notes

Reserve the cooking liquid. If you have leftovers you can store and reheat the grape leaves in the liquid to keep them from drying out.