If simplified, the dolma is a miniature cabbage rolls, in the preparation of which the filling is not wrapped in cabbage leaves, but in small grape leaves. This wonderful dish is especially revered in Armenia and Georgia, where it is the pearl of national cuisines. But dolma is prepared almost everywhere where vineyards grow: in Egypt, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Dagestan, Greece, Iran and other countries.
History
When the first recipe for making dolma from grape leaves appeared, it is not known for certain. Many reputable researchers believe that the dish has Armenian roots. For several centuries, Armenia was under the oppression of the Ottomans and Persians, but not only was it able to preserve its culture, but also partially enriched the culture of the invaders. The Armenian dolma took root in Turkish and Iranian culinary, and then spread throughout Central Asia and the Caucasus, and after coming to the Caucasus, the Russians became part of Russian southern cuisine.
Varieties
Today there are a great many recipes for making dolma, even large festivals are held, where dozens of dish variations are exhibited. With seeming simplicity, dolma with its variety is able to surprise the most fastidious gourmet.
- Firstly, each national cuisine has its own subtleties of preparation, which affect the difference in tastes.
- Secondly, a huge field for experiments gives the filling. It is made not only from meat, onions and rice, but also from fish, mushrooms, cheese, crayfish and mussels, corn, beans, pumpkins, apples, dried fruits.
- Thirdly, in addition to grape, fig and quince leaves are used as a shell.
Classic Dolma: Ingredients
However, the most common is the classic recipe for making dolma at home. It may differ in the details of every housewife, but the algorithm and set of ingredients do not change for many, many years. To make the correct dolma, you need:
- Suitable dishes.
- Grape leaves.
- Stuffing and spices.
Tableware
Crockery plays an important role in the recipe for dolma. The best options are a thick-walled stewpan or a cast-iron pan with a flat bottom. Thick walls provide uniform temperature languishing of products throughout the volume, and it is more convenient to lay dolma in dense rows on a flat bottom. If there is no such cookware, then it can be replaced with an ordinary thin-walled pan, a cast-iron duck-car, and even a cauldron. True, the result may be slightly worse.
The dish turns out to be very tasty in modern multicookers, because they meet all the requirements: the bowls have a flat bottom, in the "Extinguishing" mode all products are heated the same way. Today you can find a lot of different step-by-step recipes for making dolma with a photo in a slow cooker.
Grape Leaves: Collection and Storage
In warm regions, grape leaves are harvested in spring, usually in May, when the vine begins to bloom, tender young leaves appear. Many dolma recipes specifically indicate that it is preferable to use white grape greens for it, their leaves give dolma a pungent sweet and sour taste, in addition they are more tender than red grape leaves.
It is better to collect medium-sized leaves, away from roads and industrial enterprises. In Russia, the harvesting time depends on the region: somewhere the vine begins to bloom in May, somewhere in June, and somewhere the grapes do not grow at all. In such cases, it remains to look for store pickled or salted grape leaves.
The best dolma, of course, is obtained from fresh leaves, but in this form they are not available all year round, so zealous housewives procure them for the future in the following ways:
- In dry form, twisted into rolls, which are stored in a dark place in glass jars. Such blanks retain the pristine taste of the leaves, but eventually dry out.
- Pickling and pickling. The product acquires an acid-salty taste, but in banks it can be stored for a long time, the leaves remain elastic and quite durable.
- Freezing Storage in the freezer is also a long-term method, but its obvious minus is that under the influence of low temperature the leaves become brittle.
Filling
The classic filling includes four components:
- Meat. Lamb or beef.
- Vegetables and greens. In the classic recipe for making dolma from grape leaves, only onions and fresh herbs are used to taste: cilantro, dill, green onions.
- Fig. Glutinous rice with round grains is optimal. It boils quickly, holding together the remaining ingredients of the filling with its stickiness.
- Spices: zira, ground coriander, pepper, tarragon, basil, bay leaf, oregano, salt.
Basic principles
Cooking dolma begins with leaf preparation. They are washed, petioles are removed, and to increase elasticity, they are dipped in boiling water for a few seconds if the leaves are fresh, and for a couple of minutes if they are hard.
Then taken for the filling. Bones, veins and films are removed from meat. In the traditional recipe for dolma, meat is never turned in a meat grinder, but chopped finely and finely with a knife to make slices a little larger than rice grain. After that, the rice is boiled until half cooked, the small pieces of onions, chopped greens, salt and spices are pulverized. The filling is ready. Some housewives put rice and onions without heat treatment, this slightly increases the total cooking time.
The next step is folding the dolma. You can attract children to this simple and exciting process. The leaves are elastic, it is much more pleasant to work with them than with dough or hard cabbage. Rolling green rolls and squares is easy even for a beginner.
Rolled blanks are tightly laid on the bottom of the dishes: row by row, layer by layer. Then fill with water or broth so that the liquid slightly covers the last row. If necessary, add. A heavy plate is placed on top, which does not allow the dolma to pop up and unfold when boiling.
Dolma is boiled for an hour and a half, time depends on the volume of the dishes. General preparedness is determined by rice preparedness. After that, turn off the fire and leave the dish to infuse for about fifteen minutes, during which almost all the liquid is absorbed into the dolma.
Subtleties
Significantly facilitate the preparation of several tips from experienced chefs:
- Salty and pickled leaves must first be tasted, they may need to be soaked in cold water. And even after that, they can remain salty, so you need to salt less water with which dolma is poured, otherwise the dish will deteriorate.
- It is recommended to mix the filling not with a spoon, but with your hands, so the components will better exchange tastes and aromas with each other.
- Do not put a lot of rice in the filling, it degrades the taste of the dish, makes it more fresh.
- In order to make dolma taste richer, several types of meat are mixed in the filling, for example mutton with beef or pork.
- To make the filling juicier, a little water is added to it, but it is even better to add finely chopped fat tail fat at a ratio of 10 grams of fat to 40 grams of meat, it will make dolma incredibly tasty.
- Many housewives are nonchalant about the quality of the water used in the preparation. In vain. Hard water with a taste of chloride can hopelessly spoil the taste of the dish. It is better to cook in well, bottled or well filtered water.
- From the films, bones and veins left from the meat, the fragrant broth is cooked, which pours dolma.
- So that the dish does not burn, it is laid out with grape leaves.
- The smaller the dolma in size, the tastier it is.
- There are quite a few recipes for making dolma (with photos and even videos), according to which, cooks add tomato paste or sour cream to dishes with boiled dolma. This is a departure from the classic recipe, but it makes the sauce richer.
- Serve dolma with herbs and sour cream. Armenians and Georgians often make a special sauce for the dish, mixing garlic with the national fermented milk product - yogurt. Yoghurt can replace yogurt, airan, kefir, liquid sour cream, which are more available in Russia.
Step by step recipe for dolma
Structure:
- The lamb pulp, if not present, can be replaced with pork or beef - 500 grams.
- Round rice - three to four tablespoons.
- Onions - two to three medium heads.
- Fresh greens of dill, cilantro, dill - in a bunch.
- Grape leaves - enough to fill.
- Spices, salt - to taste.
- Onion sauteing oil - 1 spoon.
Cooking:
- Dip the leaves in boiling water and set aside.
- Chop the meat very finely with a knife. Boil rice to al dente and fry chopped onions. To make the dish leaner, onions and rice can be put in the filling in raw form. Chop greens and mix all the ingredients of the filling with your hands, adding salt, water and spices.
- Roll dolma into neat little squares or rolls.
- Lay tightly in a saucepan or pan.
- Pour in chilled broth or water so that the liquid is slightly higher than the last row of dolma.
- Press down with a load, such as a plate.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about an hour.
- After that, be sure to let the liquid absorb into the dolma.