A very famous Mezze in Arabic cuisine.
They come prepared in a variety of ways, but no matter how you prepare them, they remain a favourite and always taste great. The differences are in each family’s different ingredients, spice mixes and secret filling recipes. Despite these differences, they are almost all the same.
This recipe is for the Lebanese/Syrian appetiser wara enab, not the Palestinian Main Course preparation, which is a hot main dish. Back in the day, this cold appetiser was considered a cheat (and named as such especially in Syria) as it does not include meat (vegetarian) while some call it ‘Syami’ literally meaning for fasting during lent before easter. It is a famous offering on Middle eastern Buffets for get togethers, cocktail parties… etc. While the Palestinian Main Course one is served hot and includes meats. Another version of appetiser stuffed vine leaves is Yalangi, which as far as I know is original to Aleppo/Syria, however some think it came to Aleppo from Turkey. More about Yalangi in another post.
I have experimented a lot and have many recipes for this dish, but found this to be very easy and fast to prepare, also really delicious… Hope you like it too 🙂