Stuffed Collard Greens

If you love grape leaves you'll love this dish. I find it difficult to find fresh grape leaves where I live, and the ones that come in a jar just don't taste the same. I found fresh collard greens to be a great alternative. This is a VEGETARIAN/VEGAN recipe. However, if you're feeling meaty please feel free to add half a pound of cooked ground beef to the filling mixture described below!

Ingredients:

2 bunches of collard greens, approximately 20 leaves, washed

For the filling:

2 cups Egyptian rice or medium grain rice, rinsed

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, finely grated

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 pound vine ripe tomatoes, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

2 Tablespoons pomegranate molasses (optional)

1 Tablespoon dried mint leaves or 1 small fresh bunch, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For cooking together in pot:

water

salt

2 TBs olive oil

Directions:

-Fill a large pot with water (halfway), bring water to boil. Drop 4-6 collard leaves at a time and boil for 2 minutes. Remove with tongs and place in strainer, continue until you've boiled all the leaves.

-While the leaves cool, prepare your filling.

-Mix all the filling ingredients together in a large bowl. You'll end up with a mixture that looks like this:

-After the leaves cool, grab your kitchen sheers and start prepping the leaves to be stuffed. First step is to cut out the stem, then cut this way: 

If it's a smaller leaf you won't need to cut the top part just the two sides.

-Fill each leaf and roll it like so:

 -After you finish rolling all the leaves place some of the stems in the bottom of a large pot and line up your leaves like so:

-Cover the leaves with a small plate to weigh them down then add enough water to cover the leaves by half an inch or so. 

-Add olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring it to a boil on high heat, let boil for 5 minutes on high. Then cover and simmer for about an hour or until all the liquid is gone.

-You'll also know they're done by taking one out and tasting it! :) It should be easy to pierce a fork through it. 

-Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice, some salad or plain yogurt on the side. Enjoy!

P.S: It's easier to flip the pot over unto a large dish when you're ready to serve, they'll stay in tact a bit better ;)