Dolma (meat-filled)

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef or 1 1/2 lbs lamb or 1 1/2 lbs lamb (i use lamb)
• 3/4 cup short-grain rice
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint or 3 teaspoons dried mint
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 3 teaspoons dried dill
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 100 jarred grape leaves, packed in brine, rinsed thoroughly (about)
• 1 1/2 lemons, juice of
• boiling water
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 lemons, juice of
• 2 tablespoons cornflour

Recipe

• 1 combine meat with olive oil, onion, herbs, rice and season generously.
• 2 line the pot you will be cooking your dolma in with a couple of layers of torn grape leaves (to prevent the dolma from being scorched while cooking).
• 3 place a grape leaf, shiny side down, on surface in front of you.
• 4 if the stem is quite thick, cut it out with a knife, making a v.
• 5 pinch off about a teaspoon of the meat filling and place in the centre of the leaf.
• 6 fold in sides of leaf and roll up, not too loose and not too tight (allowing a bit for the expansion of the rice as it cooks), into neat little packets.
• 7 place neatly in pot and continue making dolma until you've used up all your meat mixture.
• 8 pour lemon juice over and cover dolma with boiling water, covering dolma with about 1/2 inch of water.
• 9 weight down with a plate and put lid on pot.
• 10 cook at a gentle simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until rice is tender.
• 11 carefully remove dolma, and place in a heatproof platter.
• 12 make egg-lemon sauce (avgolemono).
• 13 beat the eggs with the lemon juice and corn flour.
• 14 slowly dribble in hot stock left from cooking dolma, whisking egg mixture constantly.
• 15 keep adding hot liquid slowly, whisking, to temper the eggs.
• 16 pour the egg mixture into the pot with the remaining stock and whisk over a medium-low heat until sauce has thickened.
• 17 pour sauce over your dolma and enjoy!