Stuffed vine leaves

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 m.-sized onion(s)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 5 large beefsteak tomatoes
• 400 ml rice (rice pudding or broken rice)
• 500 g vine leaves, soured
• 500 g lean minced meat (beef or lamb)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 bunch of dill
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 pinch(s) thyme
• Chicken broth
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

with rice and minced meat Egyptian style (Machchi)

Wash the rice, drain lightly, and set aside. Briefly blanch and skin the tomatoes, then puree them. Heat the vine leaves in a double boiler and separate them while stirring. Remove them from the pan. Fry the minced meat with a little oil over high heat, stirring until crumbly and cooked through, but do not brown. Stir in the onions and allow to become translucent. Season with salt and pepper. It should taste a little salty! Add the pureed tomatoes and bring briefly to a boil. Meanwhile, finely chop the herbs and mix all the ingredients except the vine leaves and the broth together well. The rice is not pre-cooked; it will soften during simmering. This prevents the vine leaves from breaking. Now line the bottom of the pot with previously discarded broken vine leaves. Place a tablespoon of the filling on each of the good vine leaves and wrap them up. Stack the rolled vine leaves tightly together, layer by layer, in the pot. Once all of them are in the pot, pour in the warm broth until all the rolls are covered. Simmer over low heat for about 40 minutes. Drain any remaining broth. Serve with lemon slices.