Ingredients:
50 vine leaves medium size
50 grams salted bakaliaro (cod)
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 bunch mint, chopped finely
2 eggs
1/2 cup of rice (preferably a sticky variety)
2 tomatoes crushed
juice of one lemon
freshly ground pepper
Method:
1. First you must desalt bakaliaro by soaking in cold water for 24 hours and changing the water at least 4-5 times.
2. Remove skin and bones and cut into very small pieces.
3. In a bowl put the bakaliaro, add 1/2 the oil, the mint, one tomato, 1 egg, rice and pepper.
4. Mix well by hand and taste to make sure it does not need salt.
5. On a board or a wide plate place a vine leaf shiny side up, place a teaspoonful of the mixture and wrap.
6. Place the mixture on the base of the leaf where the stem is, roll inwards once, then wrap sides in and continue rolling.
7. In a wide saucepan, line the bottom with about 3 layers of vine leaves and add 1/4 cup olive oil.
8. Place the dolmades on top of the layer of leaves together tightly, lined up like soldiers, and layer on top as many layers as needed.
9. Add the second tomato and water. just enough to cover dolmades
10. Place a plate on top to press down the dolmades so they don’t fall apart.
11. Cover saucepan and cook on very low heat for 1 hour until there is only a minimum of juice left.
Avgolemono sauce:
1. In a deep bowl beat one egg with the lemon juice and 3-4 spoonfuls of the juice from the dolmades.
2. Turn heat off, uncover, take plate out, pour the avgolemono onto dolmades and shake the saucepan sideways several times.