Yaprak is a Turkish dish consisting of vegetables or meats wrapped in grape leaves and cooked by frying, boiling, or steaming. The dish can be made with various ingredients and is often served with a sauce or yogurt.
Yaprak means leaf in Turkish language. The term in the culinary sense is used to describe a variety of stuffed vegetable dishes and stuffed meat dishes that are part of Turkish cuisine. While yaprak is a traditionally Turkish dish, this type of stuffed dish is also prepared in other cuisines around the world, using grapes, mulberry, taro and other edible leaves.
The yaprak dish consists of vegetables and meats that are wrapped or rolled in grape leaf. The vegetable or meat leaf rolls are then fried in olive oil, boiled or steamed. Yaprak ingredients for the veggie dish usually include apples, coriander, cinnamon, dill, eggplant, cabbage, mint, onions, pepper, quince, tomato, and zucchini. The meats generally used to make yaprak are beef, lamb and pork. It is also possible to use boiled rice, beans, lentils and peas to prepare the leaf filling.
The vine leaves that are used to make yaprak can be picked fresh from a vine or can be purchased; you can buy fresh grape leaves or leaves that have been pickled in salt water at many supermarkets. Fresh grape leaves will need to be boiled until softened. Pickles must be soaked in water to reduce the saltiness.
For the filling, the greens are chopped into small pieces, and if meat is used, it is minced. Vegetables and meat can be cooked and seasoned in advance. The filling is placed on a softened grape leaf and the leaf is carefully rolled up so as not to tear it.
If the buns are to be fried, a little olive oil is heated in a pan and the buns are thoroughly fried; it is necessary to turn the rolls carefully so that they do not unwind. If the rolls are to be boiled or steamed, they are placed on a layer of grape leaves in a pot and an amount of water, just enough to cover the rolls, is added to the pot. The pot is placed over medium heat until the water boils, then the heat is turned down and the buns are cooked for a couple of hours.
Baked sandwiches can be eaten hot or cold. It is customary to eat them with a sauce made by combining chillies, mint and vegetable oil. Sometimes sandwiches are cooked in this sauce. Yaprak is also eaten with yogurt mixed with crushed garlic.
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