Dolma
Vine leaves rolled around herby rice and simmered under a plate. Undercooked rice going in is what makes them tight going out.
- Prep
- 1h
- Cook
- 50m
- Waiting
- 1h
- Total
- 2h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 250 g jar | Rinse the vine leaves and blanch 2 minutes to soften 8m Brined leaves are salty and stiff. A short blanch fixes both. | Roll a heaped teaspoon of filling in each leaf and pack them seam-down in the pan 40m Fold the sides in first, then roll firmly but not tight. Rice needs room to double. | Cook covered under a weighted plate for 45 minutes, then cool in the pan 1h 45m The plate stops them unrolling as the rice swells and pushes outwards. | |
| 250 g | Mix the filling — the rice stays raw 15m Raw rice absorbs the cooking liquid as it swells, which is how the flavour gets in. | |||
| 2 | ||||
| 40 g | ||||
| 25 g | ||||
| 15 g | ||||
| 100 ml | ||||
| 1 lemon | ||||
| 1/4 tsp | ||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | ||||
| 1/2 tsp | ||||
| a few | ||||
| 400 ml | Pour in enough to come halfway up the rolls 3m | |||
| 4 tbsp | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
-
Rinse the vine leaves and blanch 2 minutes to soften
8m- vine leaves in brine 250 g jar
Brined leaves are salty and stiff. A short blanch fixes both.
-
Mix the filling — the rice stays raw
15m- short-grain rice 250 g
- onions 2
- flat-leaf parsley 40 g
- dill 25 g
- mint 15 g
- extra virgin olive oil 100 ml
- lemon zest 1 lemon
- ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp
- fine salt 1 1/2 tsp
- black pepper 1/2 tsp
Raw rice absorbs the cooking liquid as it swells, which is how the flavour gets in.
-
Roll a heaped teaspoon of filling in each leaf and pack them seam-down in the pan
40m- from 1 Rinse the vine leaves and blanch 2 minutes to soften
- from 2 Mix the filling — the rice stays raw
- torn or broken vine leaves a few
Fold the sides in first, then roll firmly but not tight. Rice needs room to double.
-
Pour in enough to come halfway up the rolls
3m- water 400 ml
- lemon juice 4 tbsp
- extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp
-
Cook covered under a weighted plate for 45 minutes, then cool in the pan
1h 45m- from 3 Roll a heaped teaspoon of filling in each leaf and pack them seam-down in the pan
- from 4 Pour in enough to come halfway up the rolls
The plate stops them unrolling as the rice swells and pushes outwards.
Raw rice, half-covered
Rice in a dolma is a pump. Dry grains take up roughly twice their weight in liquid, and packed inside a leaf they can only draw that liquid from the pan, pulling lemon, oil and herb flavour in with it. Pre-cooked rice has nothing left to absorb, so the filling stays bland and the roll stays loose.
The liquid comes only halfway up for the same reason. Fully submerged, the top of each roll boils rather than steams and the leaves shred; half-covered, the upper half cooks in trapped steam and stays intact.
Notes
- Underfill rather than overfill. A split dolma is always an overfilled one.
- Cool completely in the pan; warm dolma fall apart when lifted.
- Three days in the fridge, and the flavour improves for the first two.