top image food
9d1638f6f32cd5c88b0a82868601eb46.jpg

I do not know what the reasons housewives make fresh tomatoes with fresh vine leaves on Good Thursday (Maundy Thursday). The only explanation may be that at this time of the year vines produce their first tender leaves, mainly in lowland and coastal areas. As usual, Cretan cuisine follows the seasonality of raw materials.


It is a busy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter) for housewives, who in addition to food also dye red eggs and start preparing Easter pastries.
Tradition says that throughout the Holy Week there should be no oil used, except the day wine is used because of the sacrament of Divine Thanksgiving (the Last Supper). The fact that only some people eat oil on this day is justified by the fact that our grandmothers used to call this Thursday the last week of "Lazarus" and they did not eat oil at all.
So our dolmades, despite their Turkish name, are a very Greek food. Researchers claim that many of these dishes are of Greek origin and possibly were known by other names, but after the Turkish occupation these dishes took the Turkish names which are the way we refer to them today.
I will tell you a beautiful story I have heard many times each year on this day in my village. Then of course, on Good Thursday there was no one left at home who was not at church. The "Virgin Mary of Mesochorian" church was flooded with women and children. In 1938, a young child, named John, was in the middle of the church and he was hungry and began eating from what he had in his pocket. "Are you hungry?" the women enquired in a strict tone. “Yes, and I’m eating grape leaves!” John responded calmly.

Ingredients:
200g of vine leaves
400g Carolina rice
2 onions dry
1 big tomato
1 large zucchini
1 artichoke
1 small potato
1/2 a bunch of parsley
1/2 a bunch of mint
300ml olive oil
2 lemons
½ teaspoon cumin
Salt & pepper

Method:
First prepare the vine leaves. In a saucepan, boil water and put in a few vine leaves, leave them for about a minute and take them out with a strainer.
To prepare the filling, grate or chop the vegetables, put the rice in 150ml olive oil and juice from a lemon, pepper and cumin.
In a saucepan, place the vine leaves on the bottom, either boiled or fresh, so that the dolmades do not overwhelm us, but give extra flavor. (Here I would like to tell you that my grandmother and all the old housewives often put small snails on the bottom of the pan. They stopped the dolmades from burning and sticking to the base of the pan and the taste they give to dolmades is unique. Unfortunately, however, I did not have any this time.)
Take a vine leaf and fill about half of it at the tip, (depending on the size of leaf you have) fold the sides and roll / wrap the leaf around to the end so that it is a small parcel. Place in a circular formation in the pot.
When the rolling has finished, pour the remaining olive oil, lemon juice and 150ml of water on top of the dolmades. Cover with mint leaves and vine leaves or vine leaves only. Put a plate as a lid to keep the dolmades down and to stop them from unwrapping and bake on low heat for about 40 minutes. Observe the liquids in the pot and if necessary add a little water.
When cooked, remove from the heat, allow the food to rest and serve.
Good luck!!!

01 02

03 04

05 006

07

08 09

11 12

13 14