Stuffed Grape Leaves with Minced Meat and Rice

Method:

• Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add in the knob of butter, the chopped onion, cinnamon, cloves, and the ground nutmeg. These spices will add a special flavor to the filling.
• Once the onion is golden-brown, add in the chopped carrot and the tomato paste.
• Fry the mixture for 5 minutes. Then, add in the rice, minced meat, and salt. Cook for 5 minutes.
• Set the filling aside and leave it to cool.
• Pick a leaf and place a teaspoon of meat over it.
• Fold the leaf and place it in with the stem end pointing toward you, and the veiny side of the leaf facing up.
• Roll the leaf in the shape of a really small burrito. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of filling near the stem of the grape leaf and roughly shape it into a sideways log, leaving a border around the sides. Wrap the stem-side up to cover about half of the filling, then fold the sides of the leaf in toward the center.
• Place each roll in a stockpot.
• Finally, once you have layers of stuffed leaves, cover them with three or four grape leaves. You can also add a lemon cut in quarters or circles.
• Cover the leaves with some spiced water (salt, oregano, basil, and some smoked paprika) or with chicken stock. Place a ceramic plate over the leaves and bake for one hour in a preheated oven to 180 Celsius degrees.
• Serve the leaves with Joka soured milk.

Тhe recipe is prepared by Viktoria Krstevska(Victoria's Food Atelier)