I spent a good amount of wednesday night making dolmades, and eating them too. They’re not at all difficult to make, it just takes a while. I made them on my own, but if you were two or more it would be easy and quick too (well, relatively speaking). I was a real moron though, I documented every little step of the process but in my stupidity I forgot to actually take a picture of what they looked like when ready. Doh!

I love all food that is wrapped up, either in some sort of bread (pasties, pitas, wraps, pizza) or like this, in vegetables!

Dolmades: makes 35 or so

• 1 packet of grape leaves (about 250g (9 oz))
• 1 big yellow onion
• 3 tbsp oil
• 150 ml (5 fl oz / 2/3 cups) rice
• 120 ml (4 fl oz) pine nuts
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 300 ml (10½ fl oz) water
• 1 big tomato
• 1 tbsp dried mint
• 2½ tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 lemon
• vegetable stock

Chop up the onion. Fry it in a tablespoon of oil with the rice and the cinnamon until the onion is see through. Add the pine nuts and the water and let it boil for about 20 mins. Open the package of vine leaves and rinse them well, several times. Drain them and pat them dry. Cut off the stems. Chop the tomato finely. When the rice is cooked, add the tomato, mint and parsley. Season to taste. Any broken vine leaves that you have, cover the bottom of a pan with them. Put about a tablespoon of rice mixture on each wine leaf (the shiny side down and the side with the stems up!), fold it up and roll it to a rather tight package. Put it in the pan with the seam down. Pack the dolmades tightly. Slice up the lemon and cover the dolmades with lemon slices. Pour some oil over it all and pour just about enough vegetable stock over the dolmades to cover them. Put the lid of a pot on top so they don’t float up. Simmer gently for about 45 minutes. Let the dolmades cool in the water and then drain any remaining water. Serve them lukewarm or at room temperature. I had to use two pots for all my dolmades, but it really depends on the size of your pot.

They’re SO good with some potato wedges and some tzatsiki. I’m thinking of making these lovely things for my housewarming party once I’ve moved. They can be prapared in advanced and then served at room temperature. It’s the perfect finger food.