Dolma

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Dolma (Arabic: ورق عنب warak einab; Aramaic: prakheh; Armenian: տոլմա tolma/dolma; Azerbaijani: dolma, Bosnian: dolma; Georgian: ტოლმა tolma; Greek: ντολμάδες dolmades; Ladino: yaprakes finos; Persian: دلمه dolmeh; Romanian: sarma; Montenegrin: japraci; Turkish: dolma) is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in Turkish Cuisine, also known in Middle Eastern and Greek cuisines, as well as the Balkans and Central Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include tomatoes and peppers. The stuffing may include meat or not. Meat dolma are generally served warm, often with sauce; meatless ones are generally served cold. Both can be eaten along with yoghurt.

Preparing dolmades

1 Filling
2 Names and etymology
3 Variants
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Filling

The filling may be largely minced meat, largely rice or grain, or anything in between. Meatless dolma are sometimes called 'counterfeit dolma'. In either case, the filling generally includes onions, parsley, and herbs or spices. Meatless fillings sometimes include raisins, nuts, or pulses.

[edit] Names and etymology

Dolma is the passive participle of the Turkish verb dolmak 'to stuff', and means simply 'stuffed thing'. ^[1]

Dolma, strictly speaking, is a stuffed vegetable, that is, a vegetable that has been hollowed out and filled with stuffing. This applies to tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and the like; stuffed mackerel and squid are also called "dolma". Dishes involving wrapping leaves such as young vine leaves or cabbage leaves around a filling are called 'sarma' though in many languages, the distinction is usually not made.Sarma is derived from the Turkish verb sarmak which means to wrap.

In some countries, the usual name for this dish is a translation of the word 'dolma' rather than a phonetic adaptation. In Greek, the word 'yemistos' is sometimes used, as well as the hellenised form "Dolmas"; in the Arab countries, 'mahshi' is the common form, though Iraqis use 'Dolma'.

[edit] Variants

There are two categories of dolma: those filled with a meat mixture (ground meat (kıyma), tomatoes or tomatoes paste, onion, rice, butter and spices) and those with a rice mixture (rice, olive oil, pinenut, bird grapes, some herbs and spices). The latter are cooked in olive oil and eaten at room-temperature. The meat dolma is a main-course dish eaten with a yogurt or avgolemono sauce, and a very frequent one in the average household. Common types include varients which are wrapped in bell peppers (biber dolma), eggplant (patlican dolma), zucchini (kabak dolma), plum (erikli dolma), collard greens/red cabbage (karalahana dolma), grape vine leaves (sarma dolma), zucchuni flowers (çiçek dolma) or mussels (midye dolma). Courgette, aubergine, tomatoe, pumpkin, pepper, cabbage are frequently used for dolma.

In Azerbaijan, small portions of minced lamb meat (or lamb-and-beef) are mixed with leek and rice. They may be wrapped into grape or cabbage leaves, or be stuffed into eggplants, green peppers, tomatoes, apples or quince. The most common varieties of the Azerbaijani dolma are yarpag dolmasi (grape leaf dolma), kalam dolmasi (cabbage leaf dolma), badimjan dolmasi (eggplant dolma), bibar dolmasi (green pepper dolma), yalanchi dolma (lit. "false dolma"; meat replaced by rice), pib dolmasi (meat wrapped into linden leafs picked up in mid-May), dali dolma (meat mixed with rice, peas, rapontica, dill and/or mint and stuffed into eggplants), lavangi dolmasi (originated in the Talysh region; baby eggplants stuffed with fish), shirin dolma (lit. "sweet dolma"; meat mixed with chestnuts, plums and concentrated grape juice, and wrapped into cabbage leaves). Sour clotted milk is used as a sauce.

Armenian tpov tolma and Echmiadzin tolma

In Armenian cuisine, minced lamb meat with rice is wrapped into grape leaves (tpov tolma - թփով տոլմա) or occasionally in cabbage leaves (kaghambi tolma - կաղամբի տոլմա). This dish is condimented with coriander, dill, mint, pepper, cinnamon and melted butter. Sometimes chestnuts and peas are part of the mix. Sour milk is often used as a sauce. Eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, quince and apples are also stuffed with lamb meat and also called dolma. Echmiadzin tolma utilizes eggplants, green peppers, tomatoes, apples, and quinces.

In Romania, they are wrapped either in grape leaves (sarmale în foi de viţă), in cabbage leaves (sarmale în foi de varză) or in bell peppers (ardei umpluţi). They are often eaten with hot mămăliga and sour cream or yogurt.

In Iran, the mixture of ground lamb or beef, rice, split yellow peas, and savory herbs is used as the filling, wrapped either in grape vine leaves (dolmeh barg mo - دلمه برگ مو), cabbage leaves (dolmeh kalam - دلمه کلم), eggplant (dolmeh bādenjān - دلمه بادنجان), tomato (dolmeh gojeh farangi - دلمه گوجه‌فرنگی), or in bell peppers (dolmeh felfel - دلمه فلفل).

Kåldolmar is a Swedish dish inspired by dolma. It is made of cabbage instead of grape leaves and contains minced pork and rice. It is eaten with boiled potatoes, brown sauce and lingonberry jam.

In Iraq, the mixture of ground lamb or beef with rice is usually made with many different fillings on the same preparing pot, as well as pomegranate juice which gives it a unique taste. The Chaldo-Assyrians of Iraq call it prakheh which is the Aramaic term for stuffed grape leaves. It is usually served with khalwah which is a yogurt mixture of cucumbers and spices similar to jajeek.