Recipe:Dolmadia Tragoidia (Grape Leaves Stuffed with Goat)

Ingredients

• Grape leaves: if fresh, flash boil for one minute; if jarred, drain and rinse
• 1/2 lb. ground as for hamburger (UK: minced) goat meat
• 2 cups white rice
• 3 mint leaves, chopped
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional pine nuts or chick peas

Directions

• Parboil rice for about 3 minutes, drain.
• In a bowl, combine rice, spices, and mint.
• Place a about a Tsp of the rice mixture at the bottom edge of the grape leaf. Roll gently, folding sides over into the roll. Place roll fold down against the edge of a 2 quart saucepan.
• Repeat process, tightly packed, creating concentric circles of dolmas. Place a flat grape leaf over each layer.
• Cover in goat stock, and place a heavy plate over the final layer.
• Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Can be served plain, with egg-lemon sauce, or with a spicy tomato sauce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. The ingredients on Uncle Ben's® Converted™ rice say it's "enriched parboiled rice." The first step in the directions says to parboil the rice. If I use Uncle Ben's, can I skip this step?

A. The parboiling process for rice involves exposing brown rice to a vacuum (the one and only chemical-free environment we know of!), then exposing it to high pressure steam, which forces some of the nutrients from the bran layer into the rice kernel. It does not, however, make the rice less crunchy when uncooked.