Dolma is a national Armenian dish, very similar to stuffed cabbage, but instead of cabbage leaves, the stuffing of minced meat is wrapped in grape. It is quite simple to prepare and does not require any special culinary skills.
Dolma belongs to everyday food; in Armenian families it is prepared almost every week. Traditionally, minced meat is used either beef or lamb, or a mixture of both. However, you can also make dolma from pork. It is better to make minced meat yourself or buy it in trusted places.
Grape leaf conservation
One of the main ingredients of any Armenian dolma is grape leaves. This dish is prepared throughout the year, so it uses both fresh grape leaves and canned ones. Fresh grape leaves are used to make dolma in May, June and July, and harvesting from them is made only in June.
You can preserve grape leaves yourself, it's easy.
What ingredients are needed:
- grape leaves - 200 pcs.;
- water - 3 l;
- salt - 2 tablespoons
Step-by-step recipe:
- Be sure to only use young grape leaves, preferably white grape varieties. Take out whole and large enough leaves, rinse them well, pour over with boiling water and dry a little.
- Fold the leaves in 10 pieces, roll each such pile into a tight roll, carefully tie the roll with threads.
- Stack the leaf rolls vertically over the jars (use small jars rather than one 3 liter jar). Banks must be well sterilized in advance.
- Pour water into a saucepan, put it to warm. As soon as the water boils, add salt to it. Boil the brine for about 5 minutes, then remove the pan from heat. Cool the brine.
- When the brine has cooled slightly, fill the remaining space in the jars with it. Roll up the lids and store in a dark and cool place.
Classic dolma in Armenian
This is a traditional Armenian dolma recipe that uses lamb ribs, fat and beef. Such dolma is always prepared in a cauldron.
The dish turns out to be quite fatty and satisfying, as well as very aromatic and piquant in taste. This high-calorie dish will be especially appreciated by men.
What products you need:
- lamb ribs - 1 kg;
- mutton fat - 150 g;
- ground beef - 500 g;
- round grain rice - 200 g;
- grape leaves - 50 pcs.;
- fresh tomatoes - 2-3 large;
- turnip onions - 2 pcs.;
- sunflower oil - 3-4 tablespoons;
- fresh herbs (mint, cilantro, basil) - 1 bunch;
- ground black pepper - 0.5 tsp;
- salt to taste.
Step by step recipe:
- Boil rice in slightly salted water. Cool it down.
- Peel the onion and chop finely, fry until golden brown.
- Put the fat in the freezer for 30-40 minutes, then grate and mix with minced meat, onion and rice. Add salt and black pepper to the mixture.
- Take prepared fresh or canned grape leaves. Place some minced meat in the center of each sheet. Roll tight rolls from the leaves.
- Rinse the lamb ribs, divide into small pieces. Rub the ribs with salt and pepper.
- Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, remove the peel from them. Just cut half of the tomatoes into small wedges, and puree the other half in a blender or mince.
- Heat a cauldron with vegetable oil, fry the ribs in it for 10 minutes until a small golden crust appears.
- Place all the grape leaf rolls on the ribs. And put chopped tomatoes, puréed tomatoes and finely chopped greens on them. Add enough water to cover all the ingredients by a couple of centimeters.
- Cover the cauldron with a lid. Simmer the dish over low heat for 1 hour.
- Serve the dolma on a large platter, seasoned with the sauce in which it was stewed.
Armenian dolma with garlic sauce
And here is a simpler and more affordable recipe for dolma. It is not difficult to repeat it at home, even a cauldron is not required. This dolma is served with a delicious sour cream-garlic sauce.
What products you need:
- minced meat (pork and beef) - 500 g;
- round grain rice - 100 g;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- grape leaves (fresh or canned) - 200 g;
- sour cream (15% fat) - 200 ml;
- garlic - 1 head;
- vegetable oil - 1-2 tablespoons;
- salt to taste;
- spices to taste.
Step by step recipe:
- Boil rice in lightly salted water. Cool it down and set it aside for now.
- Peel the onion, then finely chop and lightly fry in a pan with sunflower oil until a light golden hue appears.
- Toss the minced meat with rice and onions, add salt and seasonings such as black pepper and dried herbs.
- If using fresh grape leaves, wash, boil over and remove the cuttings.
-
Take a grape leaf, put 1 tablespoon of minced meat in its middle. Wrap the minced meat sheet in a tight roll. Repeat these steps with the remaining minced meat.
Image - You will now need a large saucepan. Put all the rolls in it. Add water so that it covers the entire dolma by about 2 centimeters. Salt the water a little.
- Heat the pot. After boiling water, simmer the dish for 30-40 minutes over low heat with the lid closed.
- While the dolma is cooking, you need to make the sauce. To do this, add finely chopped garlic or crushed in a garlic press to sour cream. Season with salt to taste and then stir.
- Spread the dolma on portioned plates, top with chilled sour cream and garlic sauce and serve as such.
Vegetarian dolma with lentils and mushrooms
If you do not eat meat, this is not a reason not to cook dolma. There is a very successful recipe for dolma that does not require the addition of meat. Instead of meat, grape leaves are wrapped in hearty lentils and mushrooms. It turns out very tasty!
What ingredients are needed:
- any lentils - 300 g;
- champignons (or any other mushrooms) - 500 g;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- grape leaves - about 50 pieces;
- sunflower oil - 2 tablespoons;
- dried herbs (mint, cilantro, thyme, basil) - to taste;
- ground black pepper - to taste;
- salt to taste.
Step-by-step recipe:
- Boil the lentils in a little salted water. If you have green lentils, cook them for about 40 minutes after boiling. Red should be boiled for 10 minutes less.
- Rinse the mushrooms, cut into medium-sized pieces.
- Remove all the husks from the onion, then chop it with a sharp knife, spraying the knife with water constantly so that the onion does not pinch your eyes.
- Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan, put it on fire. When the pan is hot enough, add the mushrooms to it. Fry them until half cooked.
- Then add the onion to the mushrooms, sauté for another 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly so that nothing burns.
- In a separate bowl, combine lentils with onions and mushrooms, add spices and salt.
- If you want to use fresh grape leaves, sort them out, rinse them, dip them briefly in boiling water, and then remove the cuttings from them. If you are using canned leaves, simply remove them from the jar.
- Take several leaves at once, fold them evenly on top of each other. Place about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center, then roll the leaves into a neat roll.
- Make the same rolls with the leftover leaves and filling.
- Put all the rolls in a large saucepan, cover them with water. The water should completely cover the dish. Salt the water a little. Close the pot lid.
- Simmer the veggie dolma over low heat for about 1 hour.
- Serve hot or cold with sour cream and fresh herbs.
Armenian dolma in a slow cooker
If you have a slow cooker in your kitchen, making dolma will be even easier.
What ingredients are needed:
- minced meat (pork plus beef is better) - 500 g;
- round grain rice - 150 g;
- grape leaves - 30 pcs.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- fresh herbs (any) - 1 small bunch;
- butter - 20 g;
- lemon - 1 pc.;
- vegetable oil - 2-3 tablespoons;
- black pepper and other spices to taste;
- salt to taste.
Step-by-step recipe:
- Prepare grape leaves. Canned ones are easy enough to get out of the jar. Dry leaves must be placed in boiling water for 5 minutes. Fresh leaves can also be boiled in boiling water for 8-9 minutes, and then sucked and dried.
- Peel the onion, chop it finely.
- Pour vegetable oil into the multicooker bowl, turn on the frying mode for 10-15 minutes. As soon as the bowl of oil is heated, fry the onions in it until a beautiful golden hue appears.
- In a separate bowl, combine the minced meat, sautéed onion, raw rice, soft butter, salt and seasonings of your choice.
- Now you can start directly making dolma. Take a grape leaf, put some filling in its center. Roll the sheet into a neat roll. The roll must be tightly rolled, otherwise it will disintegrate when stewing.
- Roll the rest of the rolls in the same way.
- Rinse the lemon, cut it into very thin slices.
- Put the first layer of rolls in the multicooker bowl. Place lemon slices on top of them. Then the rolls should go again, and then again the lemon. Repeat all layers until you run out of dolma.
- Fill the dolma with water, it should cover all layers, but no more.
- Set the extinguishing mode for 1 hour 30 minutes. Close the lid of the multicooker.
- As soon as the multicooker signals the end of the program, the dish will be completely ready.
- Serve dolma with sour cream or sour cream and garlic sauce, sprinkle with fresh herbs.
