Canadian-Egyptian Fusion: Stuffed Maple Leaves

One of the popular dishes in Egypt, as well as all over the eastern Mediterranean is stuffed vine leaves.The recipe is not a simple one, but it is basically rice mixed with tomato paste, parsley, minced meat that is cooked first. Separately, the vine leaves are blanched in boiling water. The mix is then stuffed in the leaves which are rolled so that the rice does not fall off. It is served with a youghurt dip that has crushed garlic and  cucumbers.Maple trees are all too common in Southern Ontario. The leaves looked very similar to the vine leaves. Since maple syrup is made from the sap of the tree, one can assume that the leaves are safe to eat too.So, the tree in the backyard served as the source for this experiment.The leaves were collected in May, shortly after the leaves unfolded from the long winter. After being treated exactly like the vine leaves, the result is that they are almost undistingushable, although the maple can be a bit tougher.They taste good. One can make some money selling canned maple leaves to Mid Eastern groceries.