Meat Patties in Fresh Beautiful Grape Leaves

Kiftah bi Warak Enab is a simple recipe to use fresh grape leaves with ground meat. It's not exactly rolled grape leaves which is most popular, but rather much easier to make and less time-consuming. It's very easy and delicious, but using fresh grape leaves is a must to go with this recipe.

I have been craving this dish for a while and wanted so much to share this recipe with you all. However, I didn’t have access to any fresh grape leaves which we had an abundance of in our backyard back in Ramallah, which my late father planted years ago.

This dish differs from stuffed grape leaves which are more popular. But guess what, it’s also much easier and less time consuming to make, and most of all it's delicious.

So the other day I was visiting my friend Juliana and as we were sitting in her backyard maintaining six feet distance, I turned around and saw the beautiful grapevine full of fresh beautiful leaves. I’m like oh my God I need to pick some, so I excitedly did and I’m happy to share this delicious recipe. So thank you Juliana for the grape leaves.

The aroma of this baking pot coming out of my oven brought me years back to my mother’s kitchen. when my mother used to make this dish on a Sunday where we all gathered to have our family meal.

How to Make Kiftah With Grape Leaves

Start with the meat. If you have made kiftah before it’s almost the same preparation for the meat. You can use either ground beef or lamb. I’m not so big on beef so I prefer to use lamb or mix half of each. Add all the following to the meat: finely chopped parsley, onions and garlic, allspice, salt, and pepper. I also like to add some pomegranate molasses, it gives the mix an extra kick. Mix everything well together. Set aside.

Wash grape leaves well, no need to boil in hot water, keep fresh. Take stem out and place each leave on a flat surface, with your hands take some of the kiftah, roll it in a ball then flatten and place in the middle of the leave. Close from all sides to cover the flattened meat, place each in a baking pot. Continue this step until all meat is used.

This recipe doesn’t take many leaves, and depending on how big or small the meat is shaped, I would say you need about 30-35 leaves for that amount of meat.

Once all leaves are wrapped in meat, spread over on top with sliced onions, then tomatoes. And jalapenos pepper (optional).

Sprinkle some salt and allspice and a drizzle of olive oil on top of the tomatoes, pour in some boiled water, cover in foil and bake for about 45 minutes on a 350 F.

Enjoy alone or with a side of rice and salad.

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