I love stuffed vine leaves but they are very labour-intensive so I don't make them often. I much prefer to use fresh leaves, rather than the salty preserved ones which tend to be a bit tough, so for me dolma making is a spring event. Normally, I can pick the leaves for free in my garden but one of my neighbours has been gardening rather over enthusiastically, and our garden is nearly denuded of greenery. This meant that I had to buy the fresh leaves at our local weekly market.
These leaves are eaten all over the Eastern Mediterranean region from Greece to Iraq and maybe beyond. They are held in much reverence by Turkish people, who always seem surprised that a mere Westerner should attempt such a difficult dish. In truth, they are not difficult, only time-consuming. In villages, women make a social occasion of it, and come together for an afternoon of dolma making, sharing the prepared dolma equally among themselves at the end. Young working Turkish women often do not have enough time to prepare the filled leaves and they are sent from villages by mothers and mothers-in-law.
The filling can be used to fill other hollowed-out vegetables, such as courgettes, aubergines, peppers and onions. This is much quicker and they are cooked in the same way.
Sometimes, minced meat is added to the filling, in this case the dish is usually served hot. Without meat it is served cold as an olive oil mezze dish. The rice can be par-boiled first or prepared uncooked. I usually pre-cook it a bit to get it started.
Ingredients for Stuffed Vine Leaves
half a kilo of leaves
2 cups of rice
1 small onion, grated
2 tsp salt (if using fresh leaves, reduce if using preserved ones)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp allspice (or dolma spice available in Turkey)
half a teaspoon of lemon salt or a good squeeze of lemon juice
half tsp cinammon
2 tsp pine nuts (optional)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped dill
3 tablespoons minced beef (optional)
1 large potato
1 tbsp olive oil
If using fresh leaves, boil them in plenty of water and a little salt until they just change colour. If using preserved leaves, rinse several times to get rid of salt and soak for a few minutes in hot water to soften.
If pre-cooking rice, put in a large pan of cold water and bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes, drain.
Peel the potato and slice. Cover the bottom of a pan with the slices of potato, the vine leaves will be placed on top of them.
Mix all filling ingredients together, once rice has cooled slightly.
Take vine leaves one at a time and place on a board, shiny side down and veiny side up. The stalk should be towards you and the point should face away from you. Cut off the stalk.
Place a small tsp of filling on the centre of the leaf, just above where the stalk was. Remember the rice will swell during cooking so don't over fill or roll too tight. Fold up the two lower flaps of the leaf over the rice and roll up, folding the sides in as you go. Once rolled, place on potato slices with point side down so they don't unravel during cooking. Continue until all leaves are done, packing tightly in the pan.
Place a plate on top to weight them down during cooking. Fill pan with cold water until it just covers the plate. Add olive oil and a little salt. Put lid on pan and cook over a low fire for about 1 and a half hours or until tender. Fresh leaves tend to cook quicker than prepared ones and pre-cooked rice cooks a little faster of course.
