Receive free Food & Drink updatesWe’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Food & Drink news every morning.I come from a large and close-knit family, with 14 uncles and at least 98 cousins. When we lived in Syria, we would often come together to prepare food, especially during this time of year. We would gather to peel beans, wilt spinach, and stock up our freezers. We would spend afternoons canning 80kg of tomatoes and pickling cucumbers. These activities were necessary to ensure we had enough food for the winter. Watching the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” I realized that most people find the idea of a large and tight-knit family like mine strange and funny. But for me, it’s the opposite. I see the American groom, who doesn’t have this kind of family, as the strange one. Unfortunately, my family is now scattered across different countries, and I feel sad that my three daughters will never experience these moments of togetherness and cooking. This is one of the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad – he has forced Syrians to live apart. When I came to the UK as a refugee, I traveled through 10 countries and spent a long time in Calais. I cooked there, on the steps of a church, and people would come and ask how they could help. We had to make do with what we had – scrubbing potatoes instead of peeling them, using soy sauce instead of tamarind. This experience made me realize that I have the ability to create my own recipes.Now, I live in London with my wife and children, and I don’t want my daughters to miss out on the small family activities just because they can’t experience the larger ones. Wrapping vine leaves together is a great activity for us because it takes a long time to do it alone and it gets boring and tiring. But when the four of us do it together, it becomes a fun 30 minutes of sitting together and using our hands.© Andy Sewell© Andy SewellStuffed vine leaves with lamb neck You can buy jars of vine leaves in the supermarket. Drain the liquid and remove the stems. Although fresh vine leaves are better, you can make the store-bought ones softer by dipping them in boiling water with a teaspoon of salt.For the stuffed vine leaves © Andy SewellRinse the rice until the water runs clear, then add it to a bowl with the oil and mix well. Add the cumin, black pepper, baharat, lamb, and salt, and mix with your hands (wear gloves to avoid yellow hands).Place a prepared vine leaf on a flat surface and spoon one tablespoon of the rice and lamb mixture onto the center. Fold the left, right, and bottom sides inwards, like an envelope, then roll away from yourself to create a neat tube. Repeat with the remaining leaves and filling.For the sauceIn a bowl, combine lemon juice, water, garlic, black pepper, baharat, salt, and tomato purée. Mix well.© Andy Sewell© Andy Sewell© Andy Sewell© Andy SewellFor the lamb dish© Andy SewellIn a large, heavy-based pot or flameproof casserole (30-35cm wide), layer potato slices to cover the bottom. Next, layer the lamb neck tightly together. On top of the lamb, lay the stuffed vine leaves, creating concentric rings and stacking them on top of each other. Leave a gap in the center for the garlic bulbs and artichokes (if using). Place a weight on top – either a traditional weight or stack three to five plates. Pour the sauce over the dish to just cover the food. If needed, set aside any extra sauce to add later. Cover the pot tightly with foil or a lid and cook over high heat for 10 minutes. Then, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours, checking occasionally and adding more liquid if necessary. The vine leaves should no longer be chewy when they are cooked.Remove the lid and drain as much of the liquid as possible into a bowl by putting pressure on the weight or plates and tilting the pot carefully. Most of the liquid should have been absorbed. Remove the weight and garlic (and artichokes if using). Place a serving platter or tray on top of the pot and quickly and carefully flip the pot over so it is upside down on the platter. Lift the pot gently to reveal the layers of potato, meat, and vine leaves. Place the garlic and artichokes back on top of the potatoes and serve with the drained liquid (for dipping the vine leaves) and yogurt.The simplified versionIf you prefer to cook just the stuffed vine leaves without the lamb neck, prepare the potatoes as described above and tightly stack the stuffed vine leaves around the edges of the pot, filling any gaps. Place the weight (or plates) on top, pour the sauce over everything, and cover tightly with foil or a lid. Boil for 10 minutes, simmer for 1 hour, then remove the lid and allow the vine leaves to cool completely before serving. Recipe adapted from “Imad’s Syrian Kitchen,” available now from HarperCollinsFollow @FTMag to be the first to read our latest stories.
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