Dolma — Stuffed Vine Leaves
Vine leaves rolled around rice, sweet onion and a great deal of herbs, simmered slowly under a weighted plate and served cold with lemon. Patience at the rolling table is the only difficulty.
About this dish
Dolma takes its name from the Turkish dolmak, to be filled, and the idea long outlived the empire that spread it: versions are claimed with equal conviction in Turkey, Armenia, Greece and the Levant. The meatless kind bound with olive oil is called yalancı — "liar" dolma — because it only pretends to be the rich stuffed version served at feasts. It is eaten cold, and it is one of the few dishes that genuinely improves after a night in the fridge.
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Lactose-free
Ingredients
- 250gVine leaves in brine
- 250gShort-grain rice
- 300gOnion
- 120mlExtra-virgin olive oil
- 20gFresh dill
- 15gFresh mint
- 20gFlat-leaf parsley
- 60mlLemon juice
- 400mlWater
- 2tspFine sea salt
- 1tspGround black pepper
Instructions
Rinse the vine leaves under cold running water to wash off the brine, then cover with boiling water for 2 minutes and drain. Cut away any tough stems.
10 minTip: Brine leaves are salty enough to ruin the filling if you skip the rinse. Taste one after rinsing — it should taste of leaf, not of the jar.
Chop the onion very finely and soften it in half the olive oil over low heat for 10 minutes without colouring. Stir in the rice and cook 2 minutes more until the grains turn translucent at the edges.
12 minTip: The rice goes in raw and only half-cooks later, inside the roll. Coating it in oil now keeps the grains separate rather than pasty.
Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the chopped dill, mint and parsley, half the lemon juice, the salt and pepper. Let the filling cool until you can handle it comfortably.
8 minTip: Herbs added off the heat keep their colour and perfume. Stirred into a hot pan they go dull and grassy within a minute.
Lay a leaf vein-side up, put a teaspoon of filling near the stem end, fold the sides in and roll into a firm little cigar. Pack the rolls seam-down in tight concentric circles in a heavy pan, lining the base with any torn leaves first.
30 minTip: Roll snugly but not tightly: the rice swells, and a roll packed hard will split. The torn leaves on the base are the sacrificial layer that stops the rest catching.
Pour over the water, the remaining olive oil and lemon juice. Set a plate directly on the rolls to weigh them down, cover, and simmer very gently for 45–50 minutes until the rice is tender. Cool in the pan and serve at room temperature.
50 minTip: The plate is what keeps the rolls from bobbing loose and unravelling. Cooling them in their own liquid is what makes them taste of something the next day.