Dolma
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Image:Greek dolmades.jpg Dolma (Turkish dolma; Bosnian dolma; Greek dolmas; Persian دلمه dolmeh; Armenian տոլմա tolma; Georgian ტოლმა; Romanian sarma; Ladino yaprakes finos) is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes originating in Turkey and found from the Balkans to Persia. 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.
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Filling
The filling may be largely minced meat, largely rice or grain, or anything in between. Meatless dolma are sometimes called yalanci dolma 'counterfeit dolma'. In either case, the filling generally includes onions, parsley, and herbs or spices. Meatless fillings sometimes include raisins, nuts, or pulses.
Names and etymology
Dolma is the passive participle of the Turkish verb dolmak 'to stuff', and means simply 'stuffed thing'.
An Armenian folk etymology derives it from Armenian "tol" 'grape leaf' + "ma" (< "mis" 'meat').
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' in Turkish. In other languages, the distinction is usually not made.
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; in the Arab countries, 'mahshi' is the common form.
Variants
In Armenian cooking, 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. Sometimmes chestnuts and peas are part of the mix. Sour milk is often used as a sauce. Aubergines, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, quince and apples are also stuffed with lamb meat and also called dolma.
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 leaves (dolme barg mo - دلمه برگ مو), in cabbage leaves (dolme kalam - دلمه کلم), in Eggplants (dolme badenjan - دلمه بادنجان), in Tomatoes (dolme goje farangi - دلمه گوجهفرنگی), or in Bell peppers (dolme 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, rice is usually made with many different fillings on the same preparing pot, which gives it a unique taste.
See also
References
- Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food. ISBN 0192115790.
External links
- A detailed, illustrated recipe #1
- A detailed, illustrated recipe #2
- Step-by-step instructions (with photos) on how to make dolmades
See also
de:Dolmades es:Dolma ka:ტოლმა nl:Dolmádes ja:ドルマ ru:Долма tr:Dolma