Description
6 main ingredients to make the simple and healthy stuffed grape leaves of your dreams! And all in your InstantPot!! (Alternative instructions without an Instant Pot below!)
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 jar of grape leaves
- 1 3/4 cups rice
- 1 small sweet onion
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1 head parsley
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt + pepper to taste
- optional (but highly recommended for extra flavor): 1 tablespoon of vegetable or chicken stock concentrate.
Instructions
- Remove grape leaves from jar and rinse well under cool running water. Let soak in water while preparing filling.
- Rinse rice under water until the water runs mostly clear.
- In a large bowl, combine rice, chopped onion, tomato paste, juice of 1 1/2 lemons, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, and salt + pepper (I use about a teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, but adjust to your taste). Add in optional stock if using. Mix well.
- Drain the grape leaves and prepare a work station for rolling (I like to have a cutting board for the rolling, and the InstantPot next to it so that I can place each rolled grape leave right in the pot as I go).
- Take each grape leave and lay flat on a surface, get about 1/2 tablespoon to a tablespoon of the mixture and place at the base of the grape leave neat the stem.
- Fold each side over and then roll upwards to make a tight wrap. Continue this process for all grape leaves.
- Arrange, packing tightly in Instant pot.
- Squeeze remaining lemon juice and drizzle at least a tablespoon of olive oil on top. The more olive oil you use, the juicer it will be, so don't be shy about adding a little extra.
- Add 1 cup of water then press the grape leaves down with hand.
- Set InstantPot to MANUAL HIGH, 16 MINUTES.
- Let steam natural release for at least 5 minutes before manually releasing.
- Enjoy with yogurt.
- These stuffed grape leaves keep well in the fridge for several days. To reheat, place back in InstantPot and set to WARM for 20 minutes. You may want to add a little water so that they aren't dried out.