Stuffed Vine Leaves

Warak enab is the Levantine vine leaf roll: rice wrapped in a vine leaf and cooked slowly until the leaf is tender. Ours is filled with rice that is cooked before it is rolled. We soften onion, cook the rice on it until the grains swell, then fold in chopped tomato, parsley and salt and dress the mixture with olive oil and pomegranate molasses, so the filling goes into the leaf fully seasoned. Because the grain is already tender, each leaf can be rolled tight and holds its shape from the first minute to the last. The rolls are packed in layers, covered with water, given a second pouring of oil and molasses over the top, then sealed under the lid on the lowest flame for three hours. In that trapped steam the leaf loses its fibre, the pot liquid cooks down into the rolls, and they come out dark, glossy and firm to the bite.