What are they and how are they made?
Stuffed Egyptian Grape Leaves, pronounced “Mahshy” in Arabic, are exactly what they sound like. They are made of white rice, ground beef, seasoning and oil which is all stuffed and rolled meticulously into an olive colored grape leaf. They are then laid neatly into a pan and soaked with a liquid mixture of water, lemon and salt.
Afterwards, they are pressure cooked for about an hour. Then, the moment of truth comes when a large tray is placed on top of the pan and the tray is given a few hard taps to release any stuck grape leaves. They sprawl themselves into a delicious cluster ready to be enjoyed alongside people you love. If cooked correctly, grape leaves should come out stiff when held up yet soft to the touch. Each bite should be crispy and not cause the rest of the roll to unravel. A popular Tik Tok describes them as, “So easy to eat but they take a lot of patience when you are making them” (Grape Leaf Recipe). To my mother, the hours of skilled labor, measuring ingredients and neatly rolling has simply been condensed to second nature. While they are popular in Egypt, they are found in many other Middle Eastern countries under different names with slightly different variations. For example, in Turkey they are called “Dolma'' and contain tomato paste along with pine nuts, ingredients not found in the Egyptian version.
Just as Detroit and Chicago battle to see who has the best deep dish pizza, Egypt along with many other middle eastern countries have similar battles as to who possesses the golden recipe.