Dolma is a dish of many national cuisines of the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia. There are many ways to pronounce the name of the dish: tolma, durma, sarma, dulum, as well as a large number of varieties of dolma: with different types of meat, vegetable, sweet. This original, beautiful, tasty and not at all fatty dish is prepared very simply - in essence it is stuffed cabbage, but not with cabbage, but with grape leaves, which give the dish a unique aroma.
It is necessary
- - salted grape leaves - 500 g;
- - minced beef (you can also use any other or a mixture of different ones) - 400 g;
- - raw rice - half a glass;
- - onions - 2 heads;
- - tomato paste or any tomato sauce - 2 tsp;
- - salt, ground black pepper, dried aromatic herbs (coriander, basil, etc.), bay leaves, sugar - to taste
Instructions
Step 1
Making dolma filling
First you need to rinse the rice and boil it almost until cooked in a large amount of unsalted water, then drain the water, and rinse the rice with cold water and cool; The most convenient way to do this is to use a colander. Peel, rinse and chop the onions very finely. Put in a bowl the ground beef, rice, onion, salt, all dried aromatic herbs and mix well. Remove the resulting dolma filling in the refrigerator.
Step 2
Preparation of grape leaves
Usually, salted (canned) grape leaves purchased at the market or in the store are used to make dolma. They need to be washed and sorted out, a few "substandard" leaves - torn or crumpled - put on the bottom of a saucepan or stewpan in which dolma will be cooked. Spread the washed grape leaves on the work surface.
Step 3
In the middle of each grape leaf, you should put the filling in an amount from one teaspoon to one tablespoon - it all depends on the size of the leaves, as well as on the desired size of dolma: someone prefers smaller - "for one bite", and someone even adds several grape leaves together to make the dolma big.
Step 4
Dolma formation
Roll up the grape leaves with an "envelope": first, bend the sides towards each other, and then roll the filling into a sheet into a tube.
Step 5
Cooking dolma
Place the prepared straws tightly together in a saucepan or stewpan. If the pan is small, dolma can be laid in two or even three layers, but then it is advisable to lay these layers with "substandard" grape leaves.
Step 6
Add tomato paste or sauce, sugar, salt to taste, bay leaf to the dolma, and then pour boiling water over the contents of the pan so that the liquid covers the top layer of the dolma. Put on the stove and bring to a boil, remove the foam. Close the saucepan with a lid and simmer the dolma at a low boil for 40 minutes. Try the resulting gravy for the balance of salt / sugar / acid and add the necessary - "bring to taste"; if there is not enough acid, then you can squeeze the juice from a lemon wedge into the gravy, and if you put the remaining crust on the dolma and simmer for a few more minutes, then the gravy will acquire a piquant citrus note. Serve with sour cream or mayonnaise, you can sprinkle with chopped dill and parsley.
