Dolma

For other uses, see Dolma (disambiguation).

Dolma

250px Grape leaf dolma (yaprak sarma) from Turkish cuisine
Origin
Place of origin	Ottoman Empire
Region or state	Countries of the former Ottoman Empire, Balkans, Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia
Details
Course served	Meze or main dish
Serving temperature	Cold or hot
Main ingredient(s)	Stuffed peppers, Vine leaf, Rice
Variations	Partial

Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Middle East and surrounding regions including the Balkans, the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia. Common vegetables to stuff include tomato, pepper, onion, zucchini, eggplant, and garlic. The stuffing may or may not include meat. Meat dolmas are generally served warm, often with egg-lemon or garlic yogurt sauce; meatless ones are generally served cold. Stuffed vegetables are also common in Italian cuisine, where they are named ripieni ("stuffed").

Dishes of grape or cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling are also called dolma or yaprak dolma ('leaf dolma') in many cuisines, or may be distinguished as sarma.

Names and etymology

Dolma (Ottoman Turkish طولمه,) is a verbal noun of the Turkish verb dolmak, "to be stuffed," and means "stuffed (thing)." Dolma is a stuffed vegetable, that is, a vegetable that is hollowed out and filled with stuffing. This applies to zucchini, 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.

Dolma without meat is sometimes called yalancı dolma 'fake dolma' in Turkish.

In some countries, the usual name for the dish is a borrowing of dolma, e.g. Armenian տոլմա [tolˈmɑ] or դոլմա [dolˈmɑ], or of yaprak (Turkish 'leaf'), in others it is a calque, and sometimes the two coexist with distinct meanings: Albanian: japrak; Arabic: محشي‎‎ maḥshi ('stuffed'), محشي ورق عنب (maḥshī waraq 'inab, 'stuffed grape leaf'); Persian: دلمه‎‎,"dolme", برگ "barg"; Greek: ντολμάς dolmas (for the leaf-wrapped kind) and γεμιστά yemista 'stuffed'; Kurdish: dolma‎ دۆلمە, yaprakh, یاپراخ. In Aleppo, the word يبرق yabraq refers to stuffed vine leaves, while محشي maḥshī refers to stuffed cabbage leaves and stuffed vegetables.

Filling

The filling generally consists of rice, minced meat or grains. In either case, the filling includes onion, herbs like dill, mint or parsley and spices. Meatless fillings are cooked with olive oil and include raisins or currants, onion, nuts or pulses.

Israeli variant

Levantine-style yalangi with baby carrots and potatoes

In Israel, vine leaves, Swiss chard, artichoke bottoms, mallow, cabbage, potatoes, eggplants, onions, dates, zucchini, bell peppers, beets, hot chili peppers, dried dates, dried figs and dried apricots are commonly stuffed with a combination of meat and rice, although other fillings, such as bulgur, lentils and ptitim, have evolved among the various Jewish, Arab and Armenian communities.

See also

• Sarma
• Cabbage roll (stuffed cabbage)
• Sogan-dolma

Sources

• Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food. ISBN 0-19-211579-0.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons