Yabraa (Dolma)

Hand-rolled fresh grape leaves stuffed with rice and minced meat, slow-cooked over succulent lamb ribs and garlic. Known for its melt-in-the-mouth texture and tangy lemon flavor.

🥄 Ingredients

• 1 kg Egyptian rice or any short-grain rice other than basmati
• 1 kg grape leaves, either pickled (2 medium jars of 500 g each) or 1 kg fresh leaves
• 1 kg minced meat with at least 20% fat
• 3 large tomatoes, blended
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp seven-spice mix
• 0.5 cup Mazola oil or 3 tbsp ghee
• For the broth:
• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 10 whole, peeled garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp salt
• 0.5 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp dried mint
• Juice of 7 lemons or 2 tbsp citric acid (Note: Citric acid is not harmful to health; what is commonly said about it is a misconception; it is the same as lemon juice). Healthy.
• 1 kg of sheep ribs or pieces from the shoulder or neck of a sheep, and a piece of tail fat if available.

👩‍🍳 Instructions

1. For fresh grape leaves, you'll need to boil them for about 15 minutes. Drain the leaves in a pot, add 0.5 teaspoons of baking soda, and boil for another 15 minutes. The baking soda helps preserve the green color of the leaves.
2. For pickled grape leaves, remove them and soak them in hot water. Change the water several times for 24 1 hours, then rinse them with cold tap water to remove the pickled taste and smell and restore their freshness.
3. Soak the rice as usual after washing it in the tomato juice you prepared in the blender for an 1 hour or more; it doesn't matter.
4. Place all the filling ingredients—rice, meat, and seven-spice mix—in a plastic container and mix them well with a cup of water to ensure the filling is even and doesn't dry out inside the grape leaves.
5. Start rolling the leaves. The important thing is to completely cover the rice. Any method you prefer will work; cover the rice and roll one and a half leaves around it to seal it in and prevent it from opening during cooking. Prepare a suitable pot and place the ribs, meat, or even bones at the bottom. Sprinkle them with black pepper, salt, mint, crushed garlic, whole cloves, and citric acid.
6. In Aleppo, we tie the leaves into bundles with white thread, like regular sewing, wrapping it around each bundle from beginning to end along the length of the rolled leaves. This method greatly helps in quickly pouring the leaves through and prevents them from unraveling during cooking.
7. Drain the bundles or leaves from the pot. Once you've finished, completely cover the leaves with water, cover the pot, and bring it to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a quarter of the way down and make sure the water in the leaves is boiling. If the water doesn't boil and bubbles appear, the leaves won't cook properly. Let it sit for 4 1 hours.

🌹 Decoration

Garnish the grape leaves dish with lemon slices.