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Ingredients:

300 grams  ground meat
1 ½ cups finely chopped onion
1 ½ cups dolmeh dried herbs
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tbsp tomato paste

4 tablespoons hot water
Cooked white rice (¾ cups rice with 3 cups of water)

1 jar grape leaves in brine
oil
salt & pepper

Lemon stock:

¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup water
salt & pepper

Directions:

Cook the rice and allow to cool

Sauté onion in oil until golden

Add meat, garlic, herbs and turmeric and cook until meat is brown

Dilute tomato paste with water and add to meat mixture

Add rice and cook for two more minutes until the water has evaporated

Soak grape leaves in water to rinse of brine

Place some oil at the bottom of an oven proof dish and spread all over. Then arrange some grape leavings on the bottom of the dish making sure that the entire surface is covered.

Take one grape leaf at the time. First snip off the vine from the leaf with scissors

Place 1 tablespoon of the meat and rice mixture on top of the leaf

Roll the leaf closed bringing in the sides so that the rice mixture is sealed in.

Arrange all the stuffed grape leaves in the platter seam side down making sure that they are all snug.

Mix lemon juice with 3/4 cup of water and season with salt. Pour over the dolmehs, cover tightly with foil, and bake at at 350° for an hour and half. Add another 1/2 cup of salted water and bake for another half hour.

Some people like to place a dish on top of the dolmeh to keep them from opening. It’s important that the dolmehs are closely packed to each other and also make sure to press down the foil on top when covering it.