← All recipes
Yaprak sarma
stuffed grape leaves
Grape leaves rolled tight around herbed rice and pine nuts, cooked low with lemon and olive oil — a whole quiet afternoon, worth every minute.
- 1 hr
- 1 hr
- 2 hr
- 6
- Moderate
Sarma is not a weeknight dish and never pretends to be. It’s the thing you make on a slow Sunday with the radio on, rolling leaf after leaf until the rhythm takes over and your hands stop thinking about it.
Roll them tighter than you think you should — the rice swells as it cooks. And let them cool fully in the pot before serving; sarma eaten warm is fine, but sarma eaten cool the next day, with a squeeze of lemon, is the real thing.
Ingredients
- 1 jar grape leaves in brine, rinsed
- 2 cups short-grain rice, rinsed
- 3 onions, very finely chopped
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for the pot
- 1 large bunch dill, chopped
- 1 large bunch mint, chopped
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Soften the onions slowly in the olive oil, then add the pine nuts and rice and stir for a few minutes.
- Off the heat, fold through the dill, mint, allspice, half the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
- Lay a grape leaf vein-side up, place a little filling near the stem, fold the sides in and roll tight.
- Line the pot with torn or spare leaves, then pack the rolls in seam-side down, snug in layers.
- Pour over the remaining lemon juice, a good glug of olive oil, and enough water to just cover.
- Weigh the rolls down with a plate, cover, and simmer very gently for about an hour.
- Cool in the pot, then serve at room temperature with extra lemon.