Following the recipe as-is would probably yield about 3 stars, it's not lemony enough. But I made the following additions and had rave reviews from my dinner guests:
While rice was simmering, I added about 2 tablespoons of dried dill but also added the fresh dill as directed later.
The recipe calls for the juice of 1 lemon while the rice is simmering? Forget that! I added like 3/4 cup! It wasnt fresh either, I used the bottled stuff to save time. After rice was done simmering, I followed directions but I also added about 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped mint. After stuffing leaves and placing in the pan, again I put approx 3/4 cup of lemon juice and about 1/4 cup of olive oil on the tops of them all. I baked them as directed, and then right after they came out of the oven, I squeezed a fresh lemon on the top and let it cool. I prefer these cold, so I served them as such. ENJOY!
Fabulous recipe! I grew up eating Middle-Eastern food including stuffed grape leaves. I have been looking for an easy recipe to duplicate the grape leaves I grew up with (and now love -- at a steep price -- at places like Whole Foods). This was exactly what I was looking for. I love the use of dill instead of traditional mint (as in Lebanese recipes) and I added a little extra. The only problem I could see with the recipe is that there is no salt listed. That could be the problem the one reviewer had with it being bland. I added about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to the rice while it boiled. I also added currants to the recipe instead of pine nuts (husband is allergic) though it would probably be even better with them to duplicate the flavor of grape leaves I had at a Turkish restaurant a few months back. It turned out wonderfully. The little bit of oil on the grape leaves is what I would have added anyway as it is traditional to drizzle olive oil over the grape leaves and serve it with lemon wedges. It was a little labor intensive and I definitely need more practice at rolling the leaves but it was worth the work. Thanks for the great recipe!
Very good. Used all ingredients excepts the pine nuts. My one year old (who loves vegetables) loved these. Although she couldn't chew the grape leaves very well they served as an effective vehicle for the yummy rice filling. Even better with veggie burger crumbled in rice mixture.
These were good. I found myself adding extra lemon juice because they weren't tart enough for my taste. I didn't have pine nuts so I left them out. Next time I will definitely add the pine nuts and some parmesan cheese.
The rice was bit mushy (next time I'll try the rice cooker and steam them as is recommended in other recipes). Also you can use just a little bit of oil and this recipe will be fine. I added chickpeas to the rice for some contrast.
I make this recipe with several variations. Instead of grape leaves I use cabbage leaves. (sweeter than grape leaves) I make meatballs (ground beef/onion/instant rice/parsley) and wrap them in the cabbage leaves. Place the stuffed cabbage in a big pot and pour chicken broth over everything and cook for about 45 minutes on "simmer" (stove top instead of oven). I also pour an egg/lemon sauce over stuffed cabbage after everything is cooked. Delicioso!!
Not quite what I was hoping for. Followed the directions exactly and they seemed to come out a bit too oily for my taste. I'll keep looking!
SO DELICIOUS IF YOU WANNA TRY SOMETHING ZAZZY AND DIFFERENT I DO RECOMMEND THIS ONE.
I was leary of the combination of spices but as it was coming together it smelled SO good. This is a great recipe and I had no problems with it. Yummy. Will definitely make again.
