Warak Enab
Lebanon's stuffed vine leaves: leaves rolled around a spiced lamb-and-rice filling, packed tight in a pot and slow-braised in lemon and stock.
Overview
Vine leaves blanch briefly to soften; veins are trimmed. A filling of short-grain rice, lamb mince, finely chopped tomato, parsley, mint, allspice, cinnamon, salt, pepper and olive oil mixes raw. Each leaf rolls around a teaspoon of filling into a 7 cm cylinder. Packed tight in a wide pot lined with sliced potato and lamb bones, weighted with a plate, cooked in a lemon-and-stock liquid for 75 minutes on the lowest heat. Inverted onto a platter at the end.
Ingredients
Vine leaves
- 60 fresh vine leaves (or 1 jar 500 g brined leaves - rinsed)
Filling
- 300 g short-grain rice (rinsed, not pre-cooked)
- 400 g lamb mince
- 2 tomatoes (medium, very finely diced)
- 1 onion (medium, very finely chopped)
- 4 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
- 3 tablespoons fresh mint (chopped)
- 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 80 ml olive oil
Base layer (prevents scorching)
- 2 potatoes (medium, sliced 5 mm)
- A few lamb bones (or rib pieces, optional - add depth to the liquid)
Cooking liquid
- 3 lemons (juice)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves (smashed)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 litre hot chicken stock (or water)
To serve
- 200 g Greek yogurt
- 1 lemon (cut into wedges)
Method
Stage 1 - Vine leaves
- If fresh: blanch in boiling water 1 minute; drain.
- If jarred: rinse in 3 changes of cold water to remove brine.
- Trim the stem and any thick central vein from each leaf.
Stage 2 - Filling
- Combine all filling ingredients in a wide bowl. Mix thoroughly with hands. Cover; rest 15 minutes.
Stage 3 - Roll
- Lay a vine leaf flat, vein side up, stem end towards you.
- Place 1 generous teaspoon of filling in a line near the stem end.
- Fold the stem end up over the filling, fold the two side flaps in over the filling, then roll up away from you into a tight cylinder 6-7 cm long.
- Repeat for all leaves (50-55 rolls).
Stage 4 - Pack
- Line the bottom of a wide heavy pot with sliced potato (and lamb bones if using).
- Arrange the rolls seam-side down in tight concentric circles. Pack snugly.
- Stack rows if needed.
Stage 5 - Liquid
- Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt with the hot stock.
- Pour over the rolls - should just cover.
Stage 6 - Weight and cook
- Place a heatproof plate directly on top of the rolls to weight them down.
- Cover the pot.
- Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to the lowest setting.
- Cook 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, until rice is tender and the leaves are soft.
Stage 7 - Rest
- Rest off the heat 15 minutes, covered.
Stage 8 - Invert and serve
- Carefully invert the pot onto a wide platter (or lift the rolls out with tongs and arrange).
- Drizzle some of the cooking liquid over the top.
- Serve with yogurt and lemon wedges.
Notes
- Vegetarian version: Skip the lamb; double the rice, add 200 g cooked chickpeas, and use olive oil instead of stock - the result is "warak enab b'zeit" (vegetarian).
- Pack tightly: Loosely packed rolls float and unwind. Snug enough that they support each other; not so tight they have no room for the rice to swell.
- Vine leaf source: Fresh leaves from a Middle Eastern grocer (in season) are tender; jarred leaves are reliable year-round.
Storage
- Refrigerate 4 days. Better day 2.
- Freezes 2 months.
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