Tara Khattar’s warak enab (stuffed grape leaves)

1. For the stuffing, start by washing the rice and then draining it.
2. Mix it with the ground meat and season with cinnamon, salt and pepper. The stuffing is ready.
3. Place a grape leaf on the work surface. Put a teaspoon of filling at the bottom of the leaf, fold the sides of the leaf toward the center and roll up.
4. Continue until you have used up all the stuffing (set aside the unstuffed leaves).
5. Salt and pepper the lamb chops.
6. Spread a few unstuffed grape leaves at the bottom of a medium-sized pot, then put the chops on top to cover the base.
7. Arrange the stuffed grape leaves snugly on top.
8. Arrange them in circles in several layers.
9. Add the peeled garlic cloves and finish with unstuffed grape leaves. Collect any liquid from the stuffing and pour it into the pot. Top off with 50 centileters of water.
10. Cover and cook for 1 hour over very low heat, or until the rice in the filling is fully cooked. Add the lemon juice 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
11. Turn the pot over onto a round serving dish, being careful to keep the grape leaves neatly arranged.
12. Serve hot with yogurt on the side.

This recipe is taken from the book "Liban, une histoire de cuisine familiale, d'amour et de partage", by Tara Khattar, published by Hachette in 2020. Each of the 100 recipes in this book is a tribute to the culinary legacy passed down to her by her grandmothers. She learned everything from their hands and now strives, with success, to pass on the happiness and sense of fulfillment that she feels while making every recipe.