Stuffed Swiss Chard

Ingredients

• 4 Swiss chard bunches
• 1 cup hot water (for cooking) and about 4-5 cups for boiling
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• 1 cup bulgur, washed and rinsed
• 1 small sweet onion finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 2-3 tomatoes finely chopped
• 1/2 bunch parsley finely chopped
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas (about 1 can)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• salt
• juice of 1 lemon

Instructions

1. 1

   Take out the bottom edge of each leaf, cut the long stem out, and set it aside.

2. 2

   Fill up a large pot with water and let it boil about 4-5 cups.

3. 3

   Dip all the leaves in the boiled water for 1 minute only, take out and place in a strainer.

4. 4

   Prepare the stuffing: In a bowl add bulgur, onions, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, chickpeas, olive oil, allspice, cumin, salt, and lemon and mix everything well together.

5. 5

   Lay flat the leaves on a cutting board and cut into small pieces, about fist size.

6. 6

   With a spoon take some of the stuffing and spread length-wise on each leaf, then roll, similar to how you stuff rolled cabbage. Continue until all leaves are done.

7. 7

   Place all rolled swiss chard in a pot, layer them on top of each other, long stems can also be layered.

8. 8

   Once all done, place the pot on high heat, pour 1 cup of hot water over the leaves, or fill up ¾ of the pot. Sprinkle some salt, pour in ¼ cup of olive oil. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat on low cover the pot, and let it simmer for about an hour. Halfway cooking pour ¼ cup of lemon juice.