Greek Gluten-Free Food : Dolmathes

Dolmathes are a must-try: savory-sour-salty little packets bursting with a delicious Greek mini-feast of rice, tomatoes, mint/dill/parsely and beef or lamb. It's enough to say υπέροχος: delicious! 
We tried them for the first time at SLC's Greek festival with our good friends, and now we are certifiably addicted. The rolling is time consuming unless you get a few helpers! 

Dolmathes Recipe:
1 can of grape leaves (look next to the pickles or anchovies in your grocery story)


for filling:
a cup of rice
a can of diced tomatoes
 fresh mint, parsley and dill

meat (beef or lamb) sauteed with an onion and olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

cook all of these ingredients together for a few minutes...

 Then fill the grape leaves!
Make sure the leaf is vein-up,
then put some filling in the middle.
(Notice the rice is not cooked! Don't worry!)

 fold up the bottom,

 fold in the sides,










Then roll that little bundle of yum up.


















Cook 'em in a crockpot on high for about 5 hours or low for 7 or so. Cover the bottom and sides of the pot with extra grape leaves first, then layer the bundles with lemon juice (like 1/2 a cup! Lots!). Pour vegetable, beef or chicken broth over the whole thing with about an inch of extra liquid covering all of them, then invert a heavy dish on top to keep all the dolmathes submerged while they cook.





Serve with tzatziki sauce (must, must, must have, unless you're dairy free of course)
plain yogurt + finely diced/shredded cucumber + garlic, salt/pepper and fresh dill + olive oil