Oil-Free Swiss Chard Dolmas

     I created this recipe a few years ago, when I was looking for new ways to use my garden's abundant swiss chard and basil. These are SO delicious and great for both parties and picnics in the park. You can make them a day or two ahead and they store perfectly in the refrigerator for several days. They travel well, are a great finger food and the perfect appetizer to simply grab from the fridge and serve.

     Ok -- so they are a bit labor intensive -- but SO worth it. They make a great addition to any appetizer tray too. You might as well make five dozen of them at once! (Believe me -- you'll be glad you did -- they go fast!)

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     As you probably know, typically, dolmas are made from grape leaves -- but I think they taste so much better wrapped in Swiss Chard leaves, which are more tender and milder tasting. The other thing that is different about these dolmas, is that they are made without any oil.  Oil-free dolmas might sound like an oxymoron to some, but even before I knew how unhealthy oil was, I never liked having my dolma with dripping with oil.  So give these a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

2 medium or larger onions
1/2 cup water
1/2 cube of Rapunzel vegan bouillon
2 small slender eggplants diced
4 cloves of raw garlic chopped
about 60 large swiss chard leaves
4 cups of cooked long grain brown rice
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
3 TBS capers
1/4 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Directions:

• 1.) Finely dice the onions and put them, the half cup of water and the half a bouillon cube into a large skillet. Turn it on high and allow to saute (uncovered) until all the water is absorbed and the onions are just starting to stick. Stir them frequently while cooking.
• 2.) Once the water is absorbed, add the diced eggplant and and chopped garlic and continue sauteing until eggplant is soft. Turn heat to low, stir as needed to keep it from sticking.
• 3.)While the onions and eggplant are cooking, wash the chard leaves and carefully lay them in a vegetable steamer -- about 4-6 at a time and steam them until they wilt. Be careful not to over steam them! Then lay them on a plate and do another batch until all are wilted.
• 4.) When the eggplant is soft, chop the basil and add it, the cooked rice. Stir in the thyme, lemon pepper, lemon juice and capers, and mix well. When Basil is cooked, turn off heat and cover skillet.
• 5.) Place the raw almonds and nutritional yeast into a blender or food processor and blend these until they become a uniform powder. Stir this mixture into the rice and vegetables.

 
Now you are ready to assemble the dolmas

• 6.) set out one chard leaf on your work space, with the vein side up and the stem to your left or right. Place about a heaping tablespoon (or more depending upon the size of the leaf) of the rice mixture on the leaf -- BELOW the vein.

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• 7.) Fold the two sides of the leaf over the rice like this:
  

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• 8.) Now roll the dolma up...rolling it away from you until it looks like this:
  

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• 9.) Continue rolling up all the dolmas until you run out of leaves or filling. Then place the rolled dolmas into the top part of a double boiler (that has holes in it as you can see in the middle picture below) allowing enough space so that steam from the bottom can find it's way to every dolma. You can stack them -- just make sure there is space for the steam to get to all them.
  

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The final cooking...

• 10.) Last step...really. Fill the bottom of the double boiler with about 2 inches of water and turn the heat to high until it comes to a hard boil. Then reduce heat to low and let it simmmer for about 45 minutes covered, checking occasionally to make sure the steam can get through to all the dolmas on the top layer. That's it, let them cool and then chill them in the fridge before serving.