Persia and the Caucasus · Volume 12, The South Caucasus and the Disputed Table
Dolma / Yarpaq dolması
Azerbaijan
Illustration
- Time
- 1 hour 30
- Researched
- 8 sources cited
Azerbaijani sources treat dolma as one of the core dishes of Turkic-Azerbaijani cuisine and list over thirty named types, divided between leaf-wrapped versions and vegetable-stuffed ones, eggplant, tomato, apple, quince. See The Disputed Table above for the naming and origin question, reported there without a verdict.
As tradition built it
Serves 6. About 1.5 hours.
Ingredients
- 60 grape leaves
- 400 g minced lamb or beef
- 200 g rice
- 1 onion
- to taste fresh herbs
- to taste seasoning
Method
- Prepare the grape leaves as for tolma above.
- Combine the lamb or beef mince with rice, chopped onion, herbs and seasoning.
- Fill and roll each leaf as above.
- Pack tightly in a pan, cover with water, and simmer about 1 hour, until the meat and rice are fully cooked through.
What a modern chef changes
The meat filling given the same rice-toasting discipline as its neighbour above.
Rung 6
Method
- Brown the mince lightly before combining with the rice, rather than mixing everything raw, for a deeper base flavour a purely simmered filling does not develop.
- Weight the pan during cooking, as with tolma, so the rolls hold their shape through the longer meat-and-rice cooking time.
- Rest the finished dish 10 minutes off the heat before serving, so the rice finishes absorbing residual liquid rather than sitting wet on the plate.