Yabra'a: Stuffed Grapeleaves

Caution: These are highly addictive

Yabra'a with stuffed zucchinis and boiled potatoes

I know this is my fourth post of the day. These are dishes I've been making over the course of the past few days-thought I'd get as many posts up before I'm busy with school again! These stuffed grapeleaves are my proudest cooking accomplishment yet! While making these, it was difficult not to feel nostalgic for the summer days I spent hours wrapping grape leaves with my tete (grandmother) in her home in Syria. It has been almost four years since the last time I visited Damascus: I wonder if I will ever wrap grapeleaves in that kitchen again.

Growing up, my role in Yabra'a making involved mostly observing and wrapping. Although I spent many hours wrapping the grape leaves, I learned little else about what it took to make these tasty delights! When I decided to challenge myself to finally cook these independently, I was surprised with how easy they are to make..
That being said, plan to spend at least an hour preparing this meal--wrapping enough grapeleaves to feed several people is extremely time consuming and tedious.

Ingredients:

• 1 jar of orlando grape leaves (or any fresh grape leaves--fresh=preferable)
• 3/4 cup of Sunwhite (short-grain) rice
• 1 cup of 85% lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon of usfur (safflower in English)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• seven spices pepper
• 1 teaspoon of margarine 
• 2 lemons
• 10 garlic cloves

Preparation:

• Wash the grape leaves very well! If you don't wash them extremely thoroughly the grape leaves will be too salty! Make sure all stems are removed. Orlando grape leaves tend to be larger than most grapeleaves: if using these, cut the leaves in half! 
• Soak the rice for about 30 minutes.
• Drain the water and add the usfur to the rice. The usfur is not a necessary ingredient! It provides no flavor to the meal: it only serves the purpose of giving the stuffing a nice orangish color.
• Add the raw meat to the rice along with a teaspoon of margarine, salt, and seven spice pepper.
• Use your hands to mix the stuffing ingredients.
• Now that the stuffing is done..you're ready to start wrapping.
• To wrap the grape leaves add about a teaspoon (more or less depending on the size of the leaf..as you make more, you will get the hang of how much stuffing you'll need) of stuffing to the center of the leaf.  Important side note: Make sure the viney, rougher part of the grapeleaf is on the side facing you--i.e, the side you place the stuffing. Then wrap as though you were wrapping a gift. Begin by folding the two sides tightly over the stuffing. Then roll the grapeleaves from the bottom to top.
• Place the grape leaves in a cooking pot such that the free end of the wrap is facing downwards (you do this to make sure the wrapping doesn't come apart while cooking).
• As you place the grapeleaves in the pot, distribute the 10 cloves of garlic between the stuffed grapeleaves.
• Once you are done with wrapping & placing the grapeleaves in a pot, add enough water to the pot to cover the top layer of the grape leaves, along with lemon juice from 1-2 lemons and some salt.  ((I had some extra stuffing in the end, which I used to stuff zucchinis with...will put up another post on making stuffed zucchini soon))
• Place a heat-resistant plate to the top layer of the grapeleaves, and cover the pot. Heat the water to boiling.
• Once the water boils adjust the temperature to a low ongoing heat. Give the grapeleaves about an hour to cook. You may need to cook for about an hour and a half before the grapeleaves feel soft enough. 

These are absolutely delicious! Serve with yoghurt and enjoy :):)