Grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice (Mahshi wara enab)featured
This is one of my all time favourite foods. I know I throw around the word favourite a lot on here, because I really only post things that I love, but this dish truly is up there. It is the one dish I always ask my mom to make when I am going back home to Toronto to visit her, meat and rice stuffed grape leaves, known is Egypt as mahshi wara enab.
Ever since I was a kid I LOVED these little meat and rice packages. They are tangy and flavourful and juicy and just perfect really. All the kids in my family loved them. We would inhale then at every family gathering.
Now that I make my own wara 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.
I like to set myself up to roll while watching TV and have no other distractions. The process is part therapeutic, part a pain in the neck (literally), but they are worth it.
So, enlist someone to help you roll them, or at least to give you a neck massage afterwards.
This pot took me about an episode and a half of Law and Order to roll. My neck was not happy with me and I was thinking I wouldn’t do this again for a while. But when we ate them for dinner with cucumber and yogurt salad (and it was just so, so good) I asked my 4 year old daughter what she’d rate them on a scale of 1 to 10. She said 100. So, maybe I’ll be making this a habit.
Making meat and rice stuffed grape leaves
Preparing the stuffing is simple. Just mix ground meat with well-washed short or medium grain rice. Add finely shopped parsley, cilantro, tomato, garlic, and spices. Mix well, preferably with your hands.
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!
Visuals really help in explaining the rolling process, so here are the steps in pictures.
Preparing the pot
Cooking and serving
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 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, carefully pour off most of the cooking liquid (but don’t discard it!), cover the pot with the platter and invert.
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!
Grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice
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
- 1 tomato finely diced
- 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
