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Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in Turkish Cuisine and the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions.Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma, which is more precisely called yaprak dolma or Sarma. Common vegetables to stuff include zucchini, eggplant, tomato and pepper.
The stuffing may include meat or not. Meat dolma are generally served
warm, often with sauce; meatless ones are generally served cold. Both
can be eaten along with Yoghurt.
Filling
The filling generally consists of minced meat, rice or grain. In either
case, the filling includes onion, parsley, herbs and spices. Meatless
fillings are cooked with olive oil and include dried grapes, nuts or
pulses.
Names and etymology
Dolma is a verbal noun of the Turkish verb dolmak 'to be stuffed', and means simply 'stuffed thing'.
Dolma, strictly speaking, is a stuffed vegetable, that is, a vegetable
that is hollowed out and filled with stuffing. This applies to
courgette, tomato, pepper, eggplant and the like; stuffed mackerel,
squid and mussel are also called "dolma". Dishes involving wrapping
leaves such as vine leaves or cabbage leaves around a filling are
called 'sarma' though in many languages, the distinction is usually not
made. Sarma is derived from the Turkish verb sarmak which means to
wrap. Other variants derive from the Turkish word for 'leaf', yaprak.
Dolma cooked with olive oil without minced meat is sometimes called
"yalancı" which literally means "liar", "false" or "fake" in Turkish.
It is "false" because it does not contain meat.
Variants
In Turkey, there are two main categories of dolma; those filled with a
meat mixture: minced meat ("kıyma"), onion, pinenut, rice, oil and some
spices and those filled with a rice mixture (without meat): rice, olive
oil, pinenuts, currants (or dried figs/cherries), herbs (fresh parsley
and mint) and spices (usually allspice, cinnamon and black pepper).
Meat dolma is always eaten hot; meatless ones, "zeytinyağlı dolma"
(dolma with olive oil) - "yalanci dolma" (false dolma), usually at room
temperature, as a meze. Dolma with meat is a main-course and always
served with yogurt. An egg-milk based sauce is sometimes used for
yaprak sarma with meat in some regions. Common types include peppers
(biber dolma), eggplant/aubergine (patlican dolma), zucchini/courgette
(kabak dolma), plum (erikli dolma), collard greens (karalahana dolma),
vine, chard and cabbage leaves (sarma), zucchini flowers (çiçek dolma)
or mussels (midye dolma). Tomatoes, pumpkin and some fruits such as
quince, apple or melon are also used to make dolma in Turkish cuisine.
Mumbar dolması is an interesting type of dolma for which the intestines
of sheep are filled with rice-meat-bean mixture. In some regions rice
is replaced or mixed with bulgur (pounded wheat). The inner part of
some vegetables or fruits (which is hollowed out) can be added into the
filling.
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