Stuffed vine leaves with rice and olives

1 pack of vine leaves

250g long grain rice
90g black olives finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 small onion finely chopped
cumin, dried oregano, smoked paprika, cinnamon and salt/pepper to taste
200ml passatta
300ml hot vegetable stock

(makes 40-50)

1. Soak the vine leaves in cold water for an hour to remove any excess salt. Drain and pat dry. If there are any damaged leaves, or big tough leaves keep them to one side to line the pan

2. While the vine leaves are soaking, cook the rice according to instructions and/or your preferred method for approximately half the usual time. You want it to remain al dente (some recipes call for uncooked rice, you could do it either way, but if the rice is uncooked you probably want to fish out one of the parcels at the end of the cooking time and check it's cooked). Drain and leave to one side

3. Fry onion and garlic until soft

4. Add the onion, garlic, spices and chopped olives into the rice mixture. Season to taste

5. Put a spoonful of the rice mixture into the centre of a vine leaf and roll up tightly. You may need more or less mixture depending on the size of the vine leaf

6. Repeat the process until you run out of leaves, filling, or have made so many packages that you can’t fit them in your pan!

7. Taking the damaged leaves you reserved earlier, line the bottom of a large pan

8. Start to arrange the stuffed vine leaves around the bottom. Once you’ve completed one layer, make another layer on top, and repeat the process until all the stuffed vine leaves are snugly in the pan

9. Mix the passata and vegetable stock together and then slowly pour over the vine leaves 

10. Once you’ve added it all, put a plate on the top (to weigh down the contents and stop any stray leaves floating around), put the lid on the pan, bring to the boil and then simmer on a low heat for around 45 minutes. The sauce will mostly be absorbed by the rice

Eat!!