
Dolmades or dolma meaning stuffed in Turkish, in this case vine leaves. These tasty little parcels come with many different fillings depending on region etc. We have used Lamb mince here, but you could use beef, pork, or vegetarian! Serve with your favorite yoghurt dip and freshly baked pita bread – check out our recipe!
You will need an oven proof dish 20cm by 30cm to cook the dolmades in.
Vine leaves can be found in good delicatessens, or Mediterranean or Middle Eastern supermarkets
METHOD
- Rinse Vine Leaves in water and drain.
- Heat a medium sized pan over medium to high heat and cook off onion and garlic till softened but not browned.
- Add lamb mince, turn up heat and cook till lightly browned.
- Add rice, spices, herbs, currants and pinenuts mixing well to combine, check for salt and pepper, turn off heat and leave to cool.
- While filling is cooling get your steam oven ready by pre heating your oven to 100C full steam
- Drain the vine leaves and line the baking dish with them
- Take a vine leaf dull side facing up and place 1 tbsp of filling at the base of the leaf. Fold in sides and roll up firmly being careful not to tear leaves. Place in prepared pan fitting each dolmade snuggly.
- Slip sliced lemons amongst the dolmades and sprinkle over lemon juice.
- Gently pour over 1 ½ cups water and pop in oven, and cook for 40 minutes
- Remove from oven and leave to cool before transferring to serving platter or cover and put in fridge till ready to serve.
- Make sure to bring back to room temperature before serving and drizzle with Extra virgin olive oil
- Serve wrapped in pitas with minted yoghurt sauce, a fresh herbie salad, lightly pickled cucumbers or any other mezze dishes you desire
2tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
500gm lamb mince
180gm basmati rice – or any long grain rice
3tbsp freshly chopped fresh mint leaves – or 1tsp dried mint leaves
3tbsp currants – optional
3 tbsp toasted pine nuts - optional
¼ tsp cinnamon and cloves
2 lemons – one sliced the other juiced
Salt and pepper
30 vine leaves rinsed and left to drain