Zeytinyağlı Yaprak Dolması / Stuffed Grape Leaves with Olive Oil
OK - first off, a couple of words of warning on this one!
The first is the yogurty looking dip on the top image. This was put there by the photographer as some kind of decorative element (and I don't blame them, looks very good, that bowl, I would have done exactly the same). That said, no one in their right minds would put yogurt on something as subtly spicy as stuffed grape leaves in olive oil. Which, to judge by the shininess of the dolmas, as well as the lemon wedge, these very clearly are. There is a variety of ground beef stuffed grape leaves that is eaten hot, and with those yogurt is eaten, yes. But never ever with the olive oil kind which is actually eaten at room temperature.
Onto warnings two and three: I have already said in several places on this blog that I am not a great cook, but I do have a very good sense for ingredients. And reading this recipe, unless I am mistaken, the amount of olive oil that the author is using is too litte. As is the amount of sugar. Having noticed this, I went and checked out a lot of other recipes for this, and they have more or less the same that the chef/author here has. So, I could be wrong. But for me, there should be more oil in this dish than just 1/2 cup. 3/4 cup maybe? And preferably it should be half olive oil and half sunflower oil, because the olive oil taste can get quite intense when cooked. And the same also goes for the sugar. 1 teaspoon seems too little to me. The dolmas should have a sweet savory taste. Will 1 teaspoon be enough for 2 cups of rice?
But then, all the other recipes that I looked at seem to say the same things - so, what do I know? You should probably go with the recipe. The chef here is called Cenk, I have seen other recipes of his and he obviously knows what he's doing. So, why would he screw up on this one? Pay no attention to me - I am just a curmudgeonly old woman...
INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
The first is the yogurty looking dip on the top image. This was put there by the photographer as some kind of decorative element (and I don't blame them, looks very good, that bowl, I would have done exactly the same). That said, no one in their right minds would put yogurt on something as subtly spicy as stuffed grape leaves in olive oil. Which, to judge by the shininess of the dolmas, as well as the lemon wedge, these very clearly are. There is a variety of ground beef stuffed grape leaves that is eaten hot, and with those yogurt is eaten, yes. But never ever with the olive oil kind which is actually eaten at room temperature.
Onto warnings two and three: I have already said in several places on this blog that I am not a great cook, but I do have a very good sense for ingredients. And reading this recipe, unless I am mistaken, the amount of olive oil that the author is using is too litte. As is the amount of sugar. Having noticed this, I went and checked out a lot of other recipes for this, and they have more or less the same that the chef/author here has. So, I could be wrong. But for me, there should be more oil in this dish than just 1/2 cup. 3/4 cup maybe? And preferably it should be half olive oil and half sunflower oil, because the olive oil taste can get quite intense when cooked. And the same also goes for the sugar. 1 teaspoon seems too little to me. The dolmas should have a sweet savory taste. Will 1 teaspoon be enough for 2 cups of rice?
But then, all the other recipes that I looked at seem to say the same things - so, what do I know? You should probably go with the recipe. The chef here is called Cenk, I have seen other recipes of his and he obviously knows what he's doing. So, why would he screw up on this one? Pay no attention to me - I am just a curmudgeonly old woman...
INGREDIENTS
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INSTRUCTIONS
- Dice the onions and sauté with 1/4 cup of olive oil.
- When they turn translucent, add the pine nuts and sauté for 5 more minutes.
- Add rice and stir constantly for 5-10 minutes until the rice is translucent.
- Add the spices (dried mint, cinnamon, lemon salt, black pepper, dried currants, sugar and allspice) and chopped parsley.
- After another quick stir, add 1/2 cup of boiling water and simmer on low medium heat for 15-20 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice mixture.
- Take off heat and let cool.
- And now, here comes the fun part. Traditionally, you would put a spoonful of the cooled mixture in the center of the top part of the leaf, fold the sides inwards and then roll the leaf like a cylinder. But since I have “The Ultimate Dolma Machine” (get yours from the selection here), I just placed a leaf on the rubber compartment of the machine, put a tbps of mixture in the middle and with a single slide, there comes my dolma from the other side of the machine. The process was a breeze. It took me only 10 minutes to roll nearly 40 perfectly shaped dolmas. Below is the process fully photographed.
- As the final step, spread a layer of vine leaves on the bottom of a large and heavy pot (to prevent the stuffed leaves from burning).
- Lay all your dolmas side by side and tuck very tightly.
- Transfer the remaining 1/4 cups of olive oil, juice of half a lemon and 2 cups of boiling water, cover with a plate upside down (so that the dolmas don’t move around in boiling water) and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until all the water is absorbed (roughly 45-60 minutes).
- Transfer to your serving dish and let cool.
Shamelessly filched from:
Thank you food.com! :-)
Images: Unsplash and Freepik.
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