You roll vine leaves around rice, dill, and lemon, then simmer them until the parcels go silky. You eat them at room temperature — a little oil on the plate, a squeeze of lemon, the leaf tasting of brine and the vine. They are meant to wait for you.
The vegetarian filling is the one for the mezze table; meat belongs to a different, winter dish. Greek parcels are lemon-forward and heavy with dill and mint. They appear at name days, in the tin a neighbor brings.
Pack them snugly so they cannot unfurl, then cool them in the pot. Yogurt on the side is permitted; so is nothing but lemon. They keep overnight and are often better for it.
Method
- 01
Warm 3 tablespoons of the oil in a pan and cook the onions until they are soft and sweet, about 10 minutes — translucent, not browned. Stir in the rinsed rice and toast it for 2 minutes, until the grains look pearly. Take the pan off the heat and fold in the herbs, the zest and juice of one lemon, salt, and pepper. Spread the filling out to cool; you cannot roll with it hot.
- 02
Lay a vine leaf on the board, vein-side up, and trim off the stem. Place a teaspoon of filling near the base — not more, or the leaf will burst in the pot — then fold in the sides and roll it up into a tight little cigar, snug but not strained. Repeat until the filling is gone; you should have 35 to 40 parcels. Don't worry if the first few look clumsy: your hands will learn.
- 03
Line a heavy pot with a few torn vine leaves — they'll keep the parcels from scorching on the bottom. Pack the dolmades snugly in concentric circles, seam-side down, so they cannot unfurl as they cook. Pour over the remaining oil, the juice of the second lemon, and enough water to just cover. Set an inverted plate on top as a weight: this is what keeps them in their tidy cigars.
- 04
Cover the pot and simmer very gently for 45 minutes — you want a quiet bubble, not a boil, which will burst the leaves and muddy the rice. When they're done, the rice will be tender and the leaves will have gone olive-silk, glossy and yielding. Leave them to cool in the pot, still weighted; they finish cooking in that residual heat, and they hold together far better for it.
- 05
Turn them out onto a platter when they have reached room temperature — that is how they are meant to be eaten, not hot from the pot. Arrange them with lemon wedges alongside, and a bowl of yogurt if you like, though lemon alone is perfectly honorable. A little oil on the plate does no harm. They keep overnight and are often better for it.
