INGREDIENTS
1 cup of Chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
1 cup of Short Rice
1 large bunch of Swiss Chard Leaves
2 Medium Tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 medium Onion, thinly sliced
1 cup Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
Few Leaves of Fresh Mint, finely chopped
1 Large Fresh Lemon, squeezed
1 cup Olive Oil, divided in half
Salt, to taste
7 spices, to taste
METHOD
Wash the swiss chard leaves thoroughly to release any sand. Remove their stalks, you might also need to cut the leaves in half if they seem large. Then blanch the leaves by plunging them into a pot of boiling water, for approximately 2 minutes. Drain and cool the leaves in ice water to stop the cooking procedure. Cool the leaves before stuffing.
Drain and prepare the stuffing.
Peel the chickpeas and mix them with the rice, thinly diced tomatoes, minced parsley, minced mint, minced onion, squeezed lemon, half cup olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Stuff the leaves by putting one tablespoon on each leave, keeping at least 1 cm from each side of the leave without filling. Fold the edges and roll each leave until it is completely rolled up.
Place 2 tablespoons of olive oil at the bottom of a cooking pot. Line the bottom of the pot with slices of tomatoes over the olive oil to prevent the chard leaves from sticking. Start arranging the stuffed chard leaves side by side. Once the bottom of the saucepan is full, arrange another layer on top until all are inside the pan.
Pour on top the remaining juice from the filling, and add water to the limit of the rolled leaves and have them covered, add the other half cup of olive oil and a squeeze of one lemon and cover the top of the stuffed leaves with a dish (resistant to heat) to keep them in place and avoid them to open. Cover the saucepan, bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
Carefully remove the dish and remove the chard stuffed leaves from the heat.
Serve hot or cold.
