Flavourful Dolmas

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 2 onions, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped finely
• 2 tablespoons butter (i use sweet butter for all recipes and add sea salt to taste)
• 1 lb ground beef (i use extra lean and add some oil in it so it won't be dry)
• 1/2 cup basmati rice
• 1 tablespoon dried mint (substitute, 2 tablespoons fresh mint chopped)
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped finely
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts (optional, i have yet to try with them)
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) jar grape leaves
• 1 dash good olive oil
• 3 cups chicken broth (i use homemade)
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 1 cup balkan yogurt (thick consistency, otherwise known as greek yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed (or to taste, amount is a guess)
• sea salt, to taste

Recipe

• 1 remove grape leaves from the jar and open up leaves into casserole dish or equivalent. unroll somewhat and pour over some cool tap water to soak a little.
• 2 meanwhile sauté onions and celery in 1 tablespoon butter, until soft.
• 3 in a large bowl add ground beef, onion and celery, rice, mint, parsley, pine nuts if using, sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste, mix well.
• 4 remove one leaf (the bigger the better) and place onto a flat surface; with the shiny side down.
• 5 place a small amount of the filling toward the stem side of the leaf and then roll up (you may see a demo of how to here, http://www.food.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=250725 yet i like to remove the stem if they are not already removed).
• 6 add a dash olive oil to the bottom of a pot and line with some of the riped or not so good looking grape leaves. place the finished dolmas one by one in a single close to each other layer in the pot. make the next layer in the opposite direction and so on.
• 7 add chicken stock, juice of the lemon and remaining tablespoon of butter.
• 8 in order to prevent the grape leaves from opening up during cooking, place a small plate on top of the grape leaves and press down.
• 9 then cover and bring to a boil.
• 10 lower heat and simmer covered for about 1 hour.
• 11 while cooking make the yogurt sauce. to do this mix the yogurt sauce ingredients well and add sea salt to taste.
• 12 serve dolmas warm spooning sauce on top as desired.
• 13 enjoy!