Apron - Warak Dawali (Stuffed Grape Leaves)

Warak Dawali also known as stuffed grape leaves, are made distinctly Palestinian by specific, locally sourced ingredients such as fresh or brined grape leaves, tangy sumac, garlic and lots of lemon, and by the slow cooked, layered method of cooking. Vegetarian or made with meat, Warak Dawali are time consuming to prepare and often a communal activity when it comes to special occasions. 

With these screen printed apron designs, artisan Ayed Arafah turns Palestinian culinary heritage into beautiful and useful daily objects. Made of 100% organic mansouri cotton woven in Palestine and printed in Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. Machine wash cold, hang to dry. Approximately 29" x 23"

Recipe Translation

• First, my son, you cook the meat and saute it with onions and garlic in oil, spices, and salt at the bottom of the pot.
• Then, soak the rice for ten minutes, drain the water, and chop a head of onion and garlic on it, add parsley, chopped tomatoes, turmeric, spices, sumac, and dried mint, and mix them together inside the bowl.
• Spread the vine leaves, put the rice on them, and wrap them. Of course, the leaves must be boiled and blanched.
• Arrange them over the meat at the bottom of the pot, and when all the vine leaves are placed, pour water over them to the level of the leaves, add salt and oil, and light a low fire under the pot. Health and wellness.

About Qastina

During his visits abroad, artist and designer Ayed Arafah would regularly phone his mother and ask her for recipes; she would then dictate the right instructions. Arafah was trying to cook his favorite dishes, and he was left with many scraps of paper with recipes on them. Back in Palestine, he translated these into handwritten memos and drawings, and screen-printed the artworks onto cotton fabric woven in Al Khalil/Hebron. As a refugee living in Bethlehem, Arafah keeps the memory of Qastina, his ancestral home, alive. Qastina is a small village on the coast just North of Gaza.