Begin by preparing your grape vine leaves. Trim off the stems completely, and wash the leaves well. Arrange them in a tidy stack. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, then plunge the whole pile of leaves in for 30 seconds (use kitchen tongs to hold them under the water). Use tongs to remove them to a colander to drain and cool. You should be able to do this in one go.
Next, move on to preparing the filling. Heat 2 tablespoon olive oil in a wide saucepan or skillet. Add onions and cook over a medium heat until soft.
Add rice, lentils, cumin, cinnamon, salt and stock powder. Stir to combine and cook for a minute or two.
Add 1 ¼ cups boiling water, give it a quick stir through then turn the heat down to low and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes the liquid should be gone and the rice should be about half cooked.
Add the almonds, mint and lemon zest and stir through.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Line a wide saucepan (must have a lid) with 3-4 large grape vine leaves. These will stop the dolma sticking or scorching while cooking.
Now it's time to roll the dolma. Place a leaf in front of you, rough (back) side up and stem end closest to you. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of filling onto the area where the stem used to be. Fold up the bottom edges (those closest to you), fold in the sides, then roll away from you into a tight little cylinder.
Put each dolma into the bottom of the lined saucepan as you go, nestling them into each other snugly so that they don't unwrap while cooking. This recipe was just right for me to cover the bottom of my stock pot with one layer of dolma. If your pot is smaller, or you've made more, just stack another layer on top.
When you're done rolling and packing dolma, squeeze the juice of a lemon over them, drizzle with the olive oil and pour over two cups of boiling water. Sit a small plate on top of the dolma to weigh them down, then put on the lid and cook over a low heat for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, carefully remove the plate (use tongs) and remove one dolma to check (cook's treat). The rice should be tender - if not, put the plate back in, lid on and cook for another 5-10 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Mine were ready after 45 minutes, with just a little cooking liquid left around them.
Once done, remove to a covered dish and refrigerate until chilled. Once chilled they will firm up and hold their shape well.