That Translator Can Cook: Warak Enab (Stuffed Grape Leaves)
Ground beef or lamb mixed with rice and spices, wrapped in grape leaves, and cooked in a lemony broth or tomato sauce.
Image Source: Good Morning
Since this is my last That Translator Can Cook post, I went with a favorite. I loooove stuffed grape leaves: Greek or Arab, vegetarian or meaty. If I want the vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, I prefer to eat the Greek dolmades, but I also like the meat version with the lemon sauce. If I want to eat the meat grape leaves, I prefer the Arab warak enab in the tomato or lemon sauce. I watched my friends make it in Palestine, but I don’t have the confidence (or the manpower) to cook them myself.
Warak enab means ‘grape leaves’ in Arabic, but this dish is also commonly known as dolma, which is the singular term of this dish in Greek-usually the Greek stuffed grape leaves are referred to as dolmades (the plural term). Stuffed grape leaves goes by many different names across Southwest Asia and North Africa:
Jordan and Palestine: warak dawali or warak enab
Lebanon: warak enab, yalanji, or warak al-arish
Syria: yabruk, warak enab, or yalanji
Iraq: itdolma or dolma
Egypt: mahshi warak enab
North Africa: dolma or warak enab
Gulf: warak enab? (couldn’t find a specific reference)
The origins of warak enab are a bit murky, or shall I say, everyone has their own opinions about where stuffed grape leaves came from. According to 365 Days of Lebanon, “To the Greeks all the foods that are special, traditional and delicious like dolmades – grape leaves stuffed with minced lamb and rice – were first served on the mountain of the gods…some Greeks will tell you that the origin of stuffed vine leaves goes back to the time when Alexander the Great besieged Thebes.”
According to erasmusu, the Turkish and Arabs deny that fact stuffed grape leaves were brought to their region during the times of Alexander the Great; they claim it was their food in the first place. Stuffed grape leaves, which is called yaprak, is said to be Turkish in origin; and in fact, ‘dolma’ comes from the Turkish verb ‘dolmak’, meaning ‘stuffed.’ Both Greek and Turkish use ‘dolma’, but I couldn’t date which one came first, so it’s hard to tell who is right between those two. Today, stuffed grape leaves are popular in Southwest Asia, North Africa, the Balkans, and even Vietnam. Each country has its own style, and the recipe even varies from household to household.
Here is how to make one of my favorite dishes; the vegetarian version (recipe belongs to Shaza) and the meat version (recipe belongs to Umm Ahmad Al-Shami [أم أحمد الشامي]):
Vegetarian Stuffed Grape Leaves
Sauce:
1 cup of water
A bit of tomato paste
Salt
Steps
After cutting the potatoes, put them into the pot.
After chopping the filling ingredients, mix them and then mix the spices into the filling. In a hot pan, mix the ingredients with a little bit of oil and half cook them.
Wrap the leaves and pack them on top of the potatoes. Place them like you’re building layers of leaves and gizzards. Pack them well with garlic cloves between them.
Pour a cup of water mixed with a little bit of tomato paste and salt. Put a somewhat thick plate on top of the leaves and let them simmer on low heat, until they’re fully cooked.
Ingredients
1 kilo of grape leaves
1 cup of short-grain rice, washed and strained
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of mint
½ bunch of green onions
3 tomatoes
A bit of tomato paste
Salt
Pepper
Seven-spice blend
A little bit of vegetable oil
For the bottom of the pot:
2 potatoes
½ kilo of chicken gizzards, washed and put on 3 plates
4 heads of garlic
Grape Leaves Stuffed with Meat
Steps
2 hours
Pour water into the pot and bring it to a boil. Only when the water boils do you put the grape leaves in and let them boil for 5 minutes. Place them in a colander and place it above cold water.
Prep the filling and wrap it in grape leaves. You shouldn’t pack them too much or they will split open when they’re cooking. Finish the wrap by taking a small amount of the wrapped grape leaves and sewing them shut with thread and rolling them again. Of course, don’t pull the thread too tight so it doesn’t tear and spill the filling out everywhere. Arrange them evenly and put something heavy on top of them.
Lay slices of meat on the bottom of the pot. If you use thighs, wash them then lay them on the bottom of the pot. Spread the lard on top of the meat, then lay the grape leaves on top of that. Pack the pot and pour enough water to submerge the grape leaves. Turn on the burner, put the pot on it, and cover the pot.
After an hour, check on them to see if you need to add more water, and taste test them if they’re done. After they’re done, meaning they’re fully cooked, add the salt, pepper, garlic, dried mint, and lemon juice. Let the pot boil for about 10 minutes and then shut off the burner. Bon appetit!
Note: Don’t add the lemon juice before the grape leaves are done cooking, only after.
Ingredients
4 people
½ kilo of grape leaves
2 cups of rice
320 g of ground meat or whatever meat you want
1 tablespoon of ghee
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
7-Spice blend (Al-Tahi spices) to taste
A dash of saffron
Broth:
Dried mint
2 heads of garlic
A little bit of lard
Lemon juice
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
½ kilo of thighs or meat slices for the bottom of the pot
Translators’ Discussion
At the beginning of this challenge, I encountered the term قرعة used for the quantity of garlic, which after much discussion, I decided to use “head.” How would you all translate this?
Does anyone know why دبس البندورة is used to refer to tomato paste?
The second half of Step 2 in the vegetarian recipe was a bit of a mystery. The original second half is وعلى النار مع شوية زيت ليستو نص استواء; how would you have translated this?
So, chicken gizzards aren’t really a good addition to a vegetarian recipe, and I did consider deleting it, but then again, the recipe isn’t specifically for vegetarians. I think this is a case for considering the context and consulting the author. How would you handle this?
In the meat recipe, “Ona oil” was originally listed in the ingredients, but since it’s not a common brand in the US, and most references of the brand were for sunflower oil, I used sunflower oil. You can always substitute it; I do since I’m allergic.
The “320 g of ground meat” may sound specific and that’s because the author used وقية (waqiya). A waqiya is a unit of measurement that differs from country to country: according to Hans Wehr, a waqiya is 37 g in Egypt, 320 g in Syria, 213.39 g in Beirut, and 240 g in Palestine. Since the author is from Syria, I used 320 g. Does anyone have another way they would have dealt with waqiya?
I have to say the sewing part in the meat recipe was quite confusing and maybe an Arabic speaker/translator can shed some light on this:
بتحضري الحشوة وبتلفي ورق العنب لازم ما تعبيا كتير عشان ما تفزر بالطبخ وبس تخلصي لف بتحطي كمية صغيرة من ورق العنب الملفوفين وبتربطين بخيط بتلفين كمان لفة بس طبعاً ما تشدي الخيط كتير مشان ماتفزر وتطلع الحشوة طبعاً في عالم بتصفن بتساوي وبتحط تتقيلة فوقن