Riceless stuffed grape leaves! I LOVE stuffed grape leaves, and not even just as a vector for my toum addiction.
When I was low carbing - and eventually going onto the autoimmune protocol diet (AIP) - they were off the table, unless tweaked. Rice is carby, and it's also not compliant for AIP.
Enter: Celery Root.
I got into celery root a couple years ago, as a nice substitute for rice. Peel it, run it through a food processor, and you're good to go. I'd use it for Fried "rice", as a base for Buffalo Chicken meatballs, in cabbage rolls, etc. When I started making toum at home, I had to see if it would work for dolmades. I'm happy to report that YES, it does.
These have all the flavour - as well as the appropriate texture - as the traditional, rice-filled dish. This is actually one of the top two AIP dishes we make here, along with my AIP Fish Tacos. My husband may not be following the AIP diet himself, but he would happily live on these two dishes alone!
Now, I'd originally written the recipe out and scheduled this before COVID was a big thing, so I'd like to add some info here, for those looking to make it in the next few months.
1. Up until recently, we've made these with fresh dill and mint. Given the current grocery situation, we recently made a batch using dried mint and dill. I'm happy to say that it worked beautifully! Just sub 2 Tbsp each of dried dill and dried mint - to start - cook it up, taste, and add a bit more if you like.
2. Once the filling is cooked up, it can be cooled, put in freezer bags, and frozen. We made up a big batch at the beginning of this, divided it up, and froze them. To use, we allow them to thaw, and just continue rolling it up from there. I haven't tried freezing fully assembled dolmades, so no idea how that would work.
However you end up doing up these riceless stuffed grape leaves - fresh, dried, frozen, whatever - just be sure to try them. WITH lots of toum, of course!
Enjoy!
Note: This site is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for the site to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites. While I’ll only ever link to items that I, personally, wholeheartedly recommend, I do need to put that disclosure out there!
Riceless Stuffed Grape Leaves - Dolmades - AIP & Paleo
Ingredients
- 1 Smallish Celery Root
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Small Red Onion
- ½ Cup Fresh DIll chopped
- ½ Cup Fresh Mint Leaves chopped
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 Jar Grape Leaves
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Chicken Broth
- Toum
Instructions
- Using a sharp knife, peel the celery root. Discard peelings, rinse well and pat dry.
- Chop celery root into smallish chunks, place in a food processor, and blitz until reduced to small, rice-sized pieces - you should have roughly 2 cups worth. Set aside.
- In a large pan, heat olive oil. Add onion, saute until onion softens. Add riced celery root, continue cooking until heated through. Add dill, mint, and lemon juice, stir well and season with salt, to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Carefully take the grape leaves out of the jar, rinse well, and drain. Trim all stems off the leaves, and get ready to roll!
- Place a large leaf in front of you, shiny side down and with the bottom facing you. Add a bit of filling - usually between 2-4 tsp worth, or about a tablespoon, plus or minus a little. Fold the bottom of the leaf up and over the filling, tucking everything tightly as you do so. Fold the sized in, and roll it up like a burrito. It may be awkward at first, but you’ll find your groove after a few!
- Roll up all of the filling into the leaves, placing each finished roll into a medium/large pot - seam sides down, and tightly packed. If they don’t fill the bottom of the pot, consider moving them to a smaller one - loose packing will make them come undone as they cook.
- Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil, drizzle over the rolls. Pour chicken broth over the rolls. Gently simmer - not boil - over low heat for about 15 minutes. Serve warm with toum.
Notes
Nutrition
Leave a Reply