Stuffed Vine Leaves - Authentic Turkish Dolma Recipe

Cenk Sonmezsoy's Note:

“Dolma” in Turkish translates to any vegetable stuffed with a rice-based mixture. Lots of spices are used for the stuffing. For me, the most important one is the lemon salt. It gives a nice aromatic taste, which can not be replaced by the combination of lemon juice and table salt. If you can not locate any lemon salt, don’t forget to replace it with only half the amount of kosher salt (two tbsp will be too much) and juice of half a lemon. The process may be a little confusing, you can check out step-by-step pictures at my blog here: http://cafefernando.com/?p=42

• Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 10

Yield: 40.0 dolmas

• 1 lb pickled grape leaves, pickled in brine then washed and drained
• 4 medium onions, diced
• 2 cups rice, washed under cold water and drained
• 1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup dried currant
• 1 tablespoon dried mint flakes
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon salt
• 1/2 lemon, juice of

Directions:

1. Dice the onions and sauté with 1/4 cup of olive oil.
2. When they turn translucent, add the pine nuts and sauté for 5 more minutes.
3. Add rice and stir constantly for 5-10 minutes until the rice is translucent.
4. Add the spices (dried mint, cinnamon, lemon salt, black pepper, dried currants, sugar and allspice) and chopped parsley.
5. 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.
6. Take off heat and let cool.
7. 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” (follow the link mentioned in the description section), 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.
8. 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).
9. Lay all your dolmas side by side and tuck very tightly.
10. 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.
11. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until all the water is absorbed (roughly 45-60 minutes).
12. Transfer to your serving dish and let cool.

Reviews

[zaar junkie]

These dolmas are time consuming, but awesome. I was very nervous about only cooking the rice with 1/2 cup water and was really tempted to add more. I'm glad I didn't - the rice turned out fine. I used Orlando grape leaves and boiled them for only a minute while rinsing. I used 1/4 cup fresh mint instead of dried. The entire process took a few hours. About 45 minutes for the rice, an hour to roll, and about 45 minutes to cook the dolmas. Delicious! I will definitely make this again. Thanks!

[danielle.w1983]

This recipe was great ! easy to make considering I have never worked with vine leaves before. Husband is Turkish and he said it is the best one he has had so far (and he wasnt just being nice... he actually meant it". I didnt have All Spice so I put some dried dill in instead and also a table spoon of pepper paste to add my own personal touch :)

[D Rusak]

These. are. dolmas. Thank you so much for this recipe, I have tried several and none of them came out well until this one. I think I prefer this sort of dolma with the cinnamon and allspice. I omitted the pine nuts since I ran out, but everything came out beautifully. Brought them to my Balkan band rehearsal and they were gone in a minute (along with my bottle of metaxa). Sagliginiza!