Dolma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions, including Turkey, Armenia, the Middle East, the Balkans, Greece, and Central Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma, which is more precisely called yaprak dolma or sarma. 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.
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[edit] Filling
The filling may be largely minced meat, largely rice or grain, or anything in between. 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 a verbal noun of the Turkish verb dolmak 'to be stuffed', and means simply 'stuffed thing'. [1][2]
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, squid and mussel 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. Other variants derive from the Turkish word for 'leaf', yaprak.
In some countries, the usual name for the dish is a phonetic variant of 'dolma'; in others, it is a translation, sometimes the two have distinct meanings: Arabic: محشي, دولمه mahshi or dolma, محشي ورق عنب mahshi warak einab (grape leaf); Aramaic: prakheh; Armenian: տոլմա tolma/dolma; Azerbaijani: dolma, Bosnian: dolma; Georgian: ტოლმა tolma; Greek: ντολμάς [dol'mas] (grape-leaf), γεμιστά [yemis'ta] for vegetables; Ladino: yaprakes finos (grape-leaf); Persian: دلمه dolmeh; Romanian: sarma (grape or cabbage leaf); Montenegrin: japraci; Turkish: dolma.
[edit] Variants
There are two categories of dolma: those filled with a meat mixture: (ground/minced meat) (kıyma), tomatoes, onion, rice, butter and spices; and those with a meatless rice mixture: rice, olive oil, pinenuts, currants, herbs and spices (usually allspice/newspice. Meat dolma are always eaten hot; meatless ones (yalanci dolma 'false dolma'), usually at room temperature, as a mezze.
Meat dolma are a main-course dish eaten with a yogurt or avgolemono sauce. Common types include bell peppers (biber dolma), eggplant/aubergine (patlican dolma), zucchini/courgette (kabak dolma), plum (erikli dolma), collard greens (karalahana dolma), grape vine leaves (sarma dolma), zucchini flowers (çiçek dolma) or mussels (midye dolma). Tomatoes, 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.
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 and Afghanistan , 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 or aubergine (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.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food. ISBN 0-19-211579-0.
[edit] External links
- Dolma - Grape Leaf Rolls
- A detailed, illustrated recipe #2
- A detailed, illustrated recipe #3
- Step-by-step instructions (with photos) on how to make dolmades
- Dolma Barg
- Vegetarian Cold Dolma recipe aka. Sarma or Yalanchi (wrapped grape leaves)
- Mussel Dolma recipe (stuffed vegetables)
- Lahana Dolma recipe (wrapped cabbage leaves)
- Stuffed Vegetable Dolma recipe
