Kurdish Stuffed Vegetables

Note From Jamie: It was nearly impossible for me to get an exact recipe for Iprach from Rachel and Zukhit Aharon who taught me how to make this traditional Kurdish dish in the 2nd episode of Joy of Israel. So I turned to one of my go-to kitchen lifesavers, my Israeli born Kurdish sister-in-law Chanie. This here is her version. Rachel recommended making this the night before and refrigerating for at least 8 hours before adding the sugar, salt, lemon juice, oil and water and simmering on a low flame for at least 3 hours. You see here Chanie’s instructions are slightly different but I imagine both ways work well. Enjoy!

Kurdish Stuffed Vegetables

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

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Servings

6 Servings

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3 cups of rice use short grain if you want it to be sticky or 2 cups of rice and a pound of chopped meat
• 4 garlic cloves chopped
• One tomato chopped
• One medium onion chopped
• 2 celery stalks with leaves chopped
• juice of a half lemon
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 small jar vine leaves or 1 head cabbage and/or Onions
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Juice of half of lemon
• salt to taste
• olive oil as needed

Instructions

• Mix all the ingredients or the filling and set aside.
• If you use vine leaves/grape leaves, the small jar is the right size for this amount of filling.  If you use cabbage or onion you should cut an x at the top and stick them in a pot of boiling water just for a minute or two so they soften.  Remove from water and separate them.  you need to make a cut boil them andante so they soften and then separate them.
• Once you’ve separated the leaves you lay them on a board or in your palm place a tablespoon or two depending on the size of the leaf and you fold the pointy part up, the sides in and roll.  Watch the video to see how the professionals do it below.
• Place each roll in the pot, one next to/touching the other leaving minimal space.
• Once the pot is full sprinkle a table spoon of sugar, some salt, juice of a half a lemon and some more olive oil (exact measurements are not important).  Cover with water, if pot is not full to the top place a plate upside down over the rolls to keep them from floating, bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 hour until most water is absorbed.    Some moisture is ok and even preferred.
• Let it sit for a half hour.
• Turn over onto platter or just scoop out gently.  Enjoy
• Tip:  I put all the veggies in the food processor start with garlic and celery so they are fine and then add the tomato and onion and pulse it.