Dolma recipe made from fresh grape leaves recipe. Dolma made from fresh grape leaves
Dolma is a type of stuffed cabbage roll that is wrapped in grape leaves. Grape leaves are a classic shell for dolma, and for minced dolma it is best to use lamb or prepare a mixture of beef and lamb.
Almost all countries that were under the Ottoman yoke know how to prepare dolma. They also know how to cook dolma in both Ukraine and Russia, only this dish is called cabbage rolls.
What dolma is made from:
1. Pickled grape leaves - 40-50 pieces
2. Minced lamb (lamb with beef) - 500 grams
3. Onions - 2 onions
4. Rice - 100-150 grams
5. Parsley, cilantro, thyme, mint - a small bunch each
6. Garlic - 2 heads
7. Salt and pepper to taste
Dolma recipe:
Now let’s move on directly to the recipe for making dolma. To prepare it you need grape leaves, the minced meat itself and the sauce with which the dish is served.
Grape leaves for dolma:
For dolma, either fresh grape leaves or pickled ones are used.
If you decide to prepare dolma from fresh grape leaves, first rinse them, and then pour boiling water over them and leave for 5-6 minutes.
If fresh leaves are not available to you, then you can purchase salted grape leaves.
If you purchased them, soak them before using the salted leaves. Just add enough warm water and leave overnight. During this time, remove excess salt from them.
If you were unable to find either fresh or salted leaves, then purchase canned grape leaves in a store or market.
Whichever option you use for dolma, in any case, before the cooking process, cut off the stalk of each leaf.
Sauce for dolma:
Ideally, dolma is served with matsoni sauce. But my family loves my own sauce. To prepare the sauce, I mix sour cream and mayonnaise and also add garlic and finely chopped herbs. I mix it all well. And the dolma sauce is ready.
How to make dolma:
1. Wash the rice thoroughly and boil until it is half cooked. While the rice is cooking, mince the onion and meat, add chopped herbs and spices to your taste.
Rinse the rice, already boiled until half cooked, with cold water and add to the prepared minced meat. Then mix everything well. The filling for our dolma is prepared.
2. Lay out the grape leaf on a cutting board. Place about 30 grams of minced meat on top of it (this is about 1 tablespoon) and fold the sheet with the filling into an envelope.
3. Choose a pan for cooking dolma with a thick bottom. Cover the bottom of the pan completely with a layer of grape leaves. Then place the dolma next to each other in dense layers.
Cover the top of the dolma again with a layer of grape leaves.
4. Now fill the contents of the pan with water so that the water is at the level of the upper grape leaves. If you use fresh grape leaves, then the water needs to be slightly salted.
Let the dolma simmer over low heat for about 50-60 minutes.
5. Serve the finished dolma hot, after decorating it with herbs and sauce.
Watch the video recipe for making dolma.
Calories: Not specified
Cooking time: Not indicated
Dolma – Moldovan cabbage rolls wrapped in grape leaves. In late spring and summer they are made from soft young leaves, and in winter they use canned or frozen leaves. Like cabbage rolls, dolma is prepared with different fillings: with minced meat, with meat and rice, with (lenten version) or mixed with rice, mushrooms and fried vegetables. The preparation is simple, but quite painstaking, since the grape leaves are small and one will only yield one cabbage roll. Usually dolma is prepared in a large cauldron for several days. Serve as a separate dish with sour cream or tomato sauce. We offer you a very successful recipe for dolma from fresh grape leaves, which will give you a tasty and beautiful dish.
Ingredients:
- grape leaves – 60-70 pcs;
- pork or beef (minced meat) – 400 g;
- boiled rice – 1 glass;
- carrots – 1 piece;
- onions – 1-2 pcs;
- parsley, celery, dill;
- black or red pepper – 0.5 tsp;
- salt - to taste;
- champignons – 150 gr;
- vegetable oil – 4 tbsp. l.;
- water or broth for pouring.
Recipe with photos step by step:
Rinse half a glass of dry rice under cold water, add the same amount of clean water and cook over low heat until the liquid is absorbed.
Finely chop the onion, chop or grate the carrots. Cut the mushrooms into small cubes. Fry the vegetables in oil until soft, add the mushrooms and fry for another five minutes, evaporating the mushroom juice.
Mix boiled rice, vegetables with mushrooms and minced meat. You can use minced meat of any fat content.
Finely chop the greens, take any to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly again.
Pour boiling water over the leaves and leave covered for one to two minutes. Then take it out with a slotted spoon, transfer it to a colander, and cool under cold water. The water in which the leaves were boiled can be used for pouring; do not pour it out.
Place the leaves on a table or board, smooth side down. Place some filling on one edge. Close the edges and roll like a roll. Then we fold the remaining edge so that the filling is covered.
We place the cabbage rolls in layers in a cauldron close to each other. Pour in the water in which the leaves were boiled, covering the cabbage rolls almost completely. Instead of water, you can use meat broth or mix water with tomato juice. Press down on top with a flat plate and place on low heat. Cook covered for 40-45 minutes.
Serve the dolma hot, placing it in a heap on a large plate or immediately in portions. You can add thick sour cream or make a sauce from yogurt with herbs. Bon appetit!
This recipe is for the stovetop, but can be made
Dolma from fresh grape leaves, the recipe for which I offer you, may seem difficult to prepare for some. It's actually simple. Dolma are miniature cabbage rolls made from minced meat, rice and vegetables, wrapped in grape leaves. They are prepared almost the same way as. In Moldova, not a single holiday, not a single feast is complete without this national dish. A plate of cabbage rolls becomes empty very quickly, even despite the abundance of hot and cold appetizers and salads, so they are always prepared with a substantial supply, in a large cauldron. Every housewife knows how to cook dolma, and each housewife has her own recipe for the filling, but usually there are only three ingredients: rice, minced meat and vegetables. They also add a lot of herbs, black pepper, and sometimes tomato sauce, and fill the cabbage rolls with salted water. During cooking, grape leaves give their unique sour taste to the gravy, so nothing is added to the water except salt. To prevent the cabbage rolls from sticking together during cooking, each layer is sprinkled with vegetable oil.
For dolma, grape leaves of the same size are selected, about the size of a palm and not very carved. The grape variety is not important, the main thing is that there are no pimples on the back side, and the leaves themselves are not damaged.
How to cook Moldovan dolma from fresh grape leaves
Ingredients:
- fresh grape leaves – 80-90 pcs;
- minced meat – 400 g;
- rice (dry cereal) – 1 cup;
- carrots – 1 large;
- onion – 2-3 onions;
- green cilantro, celery, parsley - a bunch each;
- salt - to taste;
- ground black pepper – 1-1.5 teaspoons (to taste);
- vegetable oil – 0.5 cups.
How to cook with photos step by step
Pour the rice washed in several waters into a cauldron and add cold water in a 1:1 ratio (as much rice as water). You need to cook it until half cooked so that the grains of rice inside remain dense.
Sort the grape leaves and cut off the stems. Rinse each one on both sides under running water.
Place 15-20 leaves in a bowl and pour boiling water over them for a minute. Remove the leaves with a slotted spoon. Add the next batch and so on until all the leaves are scalded. The color will change from bright green to olive, the leaves will become soft. Now they are ready for stuffing, let them cool and we will prepare the filling. We do not pour out the water in which the leaves were located; it will be needed to fill the cabbage rolls. 
Cut the onion into small cubes, grate the carrots on a fine or coarse grater. Pour half of the required amount of oil into a deep frying pan (the rest will be used to grease the cabbage rolls). Fry the vegetables in oil until soft, first the onion, and when it is slightly browned, add the carrots.
The rice has steamed, put it in a bowl, knead it until it becomes crumbly.
Dolma in Moldavian style is prepared from any minced meat. It can be a mixture of pork and beef, lamb, pork only (not lean) or beef only. This is different from other dolma recipes, which do not use pork.
Add minced meat and fried vegetables along with oil to the rice. Mix.
Finely chop any greens to your taste, add salt and ground pepper to the filling. Mix everything again and leave for a few minutes. 
Place the prepared leaves on a table or board with the ribbed side up. Add a teaspoon of filling.
We wrap the edge, then one side (the one that will be below) so that the filling is closed on both sides.
Roll it up into a tube and push the free edge of the sheet inside with your finger, covering the filling. The cabbage rolls turn out small, no larger than a matchbox.
Place cabbage leaves on the bottom of the cauldron or pour a little vegetable oil. Lay out a layer of cabbage rolls, pour in oil, another layer of cabbage rolls, and so on until the cauldron is filled.
Salt the remaining water from the steamed leaves to taste. Fill the cabbage rolls, covering them completely.
Place an inverted plate on top. Place on low heat, wait until it starts to boil, turn the heat to low and cover with a lid. In 35-40 minutes the dolma will be ready.
Unlike cabbage rolls in cabbage leaves, there is no gravy in dolma; it is all absorbed during cooking. Instead of gravy for dolma, serve thick homemade sour cream or with
Dolma made from fresh grape leaves is a wonderful dish of Caucasian cuisine. Compared to our cabbage rolls, dolma turns out to be more tender (grape leaves are more delicate than cabbage leaves) and with a slight appetizing sourness (the taste of grape leaves). Dolma is served with matsona sauce, a Caucasian analogue of Greek yogurt, mixed with garlic, spices and fresh herbs.
Correct, real dolma is made from lamb, but it can also be prepared with beef or combined minced meat, replacing lamb with pork or beef. The dish will turn out to be more familiar, closer to Slavic cabbage rolls. Instead of hot sauce, it is permissible to serve sour cream and herbs with dolma; it will still be very tasty. Spicy cabbage rolls in delicate white grape leaves will delight even the most picky guests and will become the highlight of your feast. Take the dolma recipe into your cookbook and be sure to cook it!
Ingredients
- grape leaves 25-30 pcs.
- lamb 100 g
- pork 100 g
- beef 100 g
- long grain rice 2 tbsp. l.
- onion 30 g
- greens (dill, parsley) 3 tsp.
- ground black pepper to taste
- salt to taste
How to prepare dolma from fresh grape leaves
- Collect small young leaves from white grapes. Pour boiling water over them for 3 minutes. Rinse the leaves with cold water and dry a little. You can use salted or frozen leaves, which do not require pre-steaming.
Chop the greens and onions. Chop the ingredients into small cubes.
Boil long grain rice for 7 minutes in boiling water, after rinsing the grains in cold water to remove excess starch. Grind the meat using a meat grinder and mix the ingredients into combined minced meat. This minced meat can be prepared in advance and stored in the freezer for up to several months, defrosting the portion at room temperature before using. Combine the prepared ingredients in a deep bowl, seasoning with pepper and salt.
Stir the minced meat until smooth, kneading lightly, and place it in the refrigerator or freezer for 10 minutes. Chilled minced meat is more elastic and easier to work with.
Remove the hard part at the base of the grape leaf. Place a teaspoon of minced meat in the center of the workpiece.
Cover the filling with two opposite sides of the leaf and form cabbage rolls. Take very small leaves in twos, overlapping each other.
Place a layer of leaves left over from forming the dolma in a saucepan with a fireproof coating or in a cauldron. Layer the cooked cabbage rolls. Fill the dolma with water 2 cm above the contents of the pan. Cover the cabbage rolls with a saucer and place a weight on it. Simmer the dish for 1.5-2 hours over low heat until the leaves are as soft as desired. If necessary, add water during simmering.
Serve the dish hot with spicy sauce based on natural yogurt or sour cream.
On a note:
Spicy sauce for dolma from fresh grape leaves (and canned ones) can be prepared from 100 g of natural yogurt, 1 clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon of cilantro, ground black pepper to taste, salt to taste. The ingredients are crushed with an immersion blender. If desired, yoghurt can be replaced with sour cream, cilantro-dill, and parsley.
Preparation
1. Rinse the grape leaves well (it is better to rinse not in running water, but in a large bowl or sink, changing the water several times to maintain the integrity of the leaves. It is better to take grape leaves when they are young, about the size of your palm. The darker the leaves, the older they are - young leaves are light green (yellowish) in color. Dolma from old grape leaves may be harsh. Place fresh leaves in boiling water and leave for 3-5 minutes. Drain the water, shake off excess water from the leaves. Cut off the petioles from each leaf along with the thickening from veins at the very base of the leaf.
2. Prepare minced meat: mince the meat. Peel the onion and finely chop (if desired, the onion can be fried a little). Wash the greens, dry and finely chop. Wash the tomato, remove the skin and cut into small cubes. Pour boiling water over the rice and leave for 10-15 minutes or boil until half cooked. Peel the garlic and chop finely. Combine the meat with onions, garlic (optional), rice, herbs, tomatoes, add salt, pepper, nutmeg, pour in 1-2 tablespoons of cold water and mix well.
3. Place a small amount (~1 dessert spoon or 1 tablespoon) of filling on the wide part of the prepared grape leaf (place on the smooth side of the leaf). Fold the edges of the sheet towards the center and roll it into a neat tube (roll it the same way as wrapping cabbage rolls).
4. Cover the bottom of a saucepan or other thick-walled dish with grape leaves (this will prevent the dolma from burning and add even more flavor). Place the “dollars” tightly on top. Stuffed cabbage rolls can be laid in several rows. Each row can be covered with a layer of grape leaves.
5. Prepare one of the fillings listed below, or instead of pouring, fill the dolma with salted meat broth. For tomato-sour cream filling: combine sour cream with tomato paste and mix. Add broth or water, salt, pepper, pour in oil and stir again. For filling with onions and tomatoes: peel the onion and finely chop. Wash the tomatoes, dry and cut into cubes (you can remove the skin from the tomatoes). Pour 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil into the frying pan and add the onion. Fry ~1 minute. Add tomatoes and simmer, stirring, for ~8-15 minutes. Salt and pepper. Spread the tomato mixture over the cabbage rolls. Pour in the salted meat broth (the pouring should almost completely cover the house).
6. Cover the cabbage rolls with a smaller diameter saucepan with an inverted flat plate (so that the cabbage rolls do not float) and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for ~40-60 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and leave the cabbage rolls to brew for another ~10-15 minutes. Place the finished dolma on a plate, pour over the sauce and sprinkle with chopped herbs.
8. For the sauce: peel the garlic and chop finely or pass through a garlic press. Wash the greens, dry and finely chop. Add garlic, herbs, a little salt and pepper to sour milk, yogurt, kefir, natural yogurt or sour cream. Stir the sauce well.
