Beetroot Leaf Dolmades

I am loving growing my own fresh Beetroots but I had no idea how to use the leaves other than adding a little into a stirfry or composting. I am passionate about creating ways to get the most out of everything that I grow! After all, a lot of time, patience and effort went into growing it! These Dolmades completely blew my mind – absolutely delicious! I made this with my purple unicorn rice but you can use plain rice. These can also be made using Rainbow Chard leaves.

Also if you only have liquid vegetable stock just replace with the water in step 1.

Ingredients

• 1 large freshly picked Beetroot
• 3/4 cup Long-grain Rice
• 2-3 Red Cabbage leaves
• 4 teaspoons Vegetable Stock Powder
• 1/4 Red Onion
• 1 small Lemon
• 1/2 cup Parsley
• 1/2 packet Haloumi
• 1/4 dried Cranberries

• Ricotta (or greek yoghurt), lemon juice and chopped parsley to serve.

Method

1. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and the cabbage leaves to a saucepan with a lid and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes and gently stir and bruise the cabbage with a spoon a few times to release the colour.
2. While your purple water is boiling, finely chop your red onion and fry in a small saucepan. Set aside to cool.
3. Strain the cabbage water into a bowl and discard the leaves (compost). Measure the purple water back into your saucepan and make sure you have 1 cup. Add a little more if it has evaporated.
4. Quickly rinse your rice under water to remove some of the starch and then add to your purple water along with 2 teaspoons of vegetable stock powder and lighter simmer for 10minutes. remove from the heat and set aside to cool. The rice should be nearly cooked and most of the liquid should be absorbed.
5. Rinse your beetroot leaves and cut off the stems ( i will work on a recipe for these next but for now future stirfry).
6. Get a dish (casserole size) and fill with cold water and ice.
7. In a large saucepan add water and bring to the boil. Place your beet leaves into the boiling water and submerge for about 1 minute. The colour will change to a vibrant green.
8. Carefully remove the leaves and place directly into the ice bath so that they stop cooking and retain their vibrant colour.
9. Once they have cooled down after a minute or so remove the leaves and lay them flat on to a tea towel to dry off a bit. You may need to use a couple of tea towels depending on how many leaves you to have and how big they are.
10. Into a bowl add the zest of one lemon, chopped parsley, cooked red onion, haloumi chopped into small pieces, cranberries and purple rice. Mix to combine and then squeeze over 1/4 wedge of lemon juice.
11. Lay your beet leaves shiny side down and add a small amount of mixture to the base near the stem. Fold the sides in and then roll-up.
12. Once all your mixture is used, place your rolled Dolmades with the end piece on the bottom into a large saucepan.
13. Drizzle with oil and mix the last two teaspoons of vegetable stock with one cup of water and add to the saucepan. Cover and simmer for 10-15mins.
14. Serve with greek yoghurt, tzatziki or I used Ricotta mixed with lemon juice and chopped parsley.

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If you have any ideas for using Beetroot Leaves leave me a comment below! Tag me on Instagram if you make these delicious Dolmades, I would love to see your versions.

Holly 🌱

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