peasant dish of Turkey
Yalanci Dolma
ingredients
Appetizer servings: 8 to 12
Vine leaves
3 dozen
Olive oil
6 centiliters or 1/4 cup
Chopped white onions
15 centiliters or 2/3 cup
Long grain white rice
25 centiliters or 1 cup
Pine nuts
8 centiliters or 1/3 cup
Chopped raisins
30 milliliters or 2 tablespoons
Crumbled dried mint
15 milliliters or 1 tablespoon
Ground dried oregano
2 milliliters or 1/2 teaspoon
Salt (or to taste)
2 milliliters or 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon
1 milliliter or 1/4 teaspoon
Ground black pepper
1 milliliter or 1/4 teaspoon
Lemon juice
6 centiliters or 1/4 cup
Boiling water
35 centiliters or 1 1/2 cups
Yalanci Dolma
cooking steps
Prepare
the vine leaves (see instructions below).
Heat
the olive oil in a large sauté pan or skillet over low heat. Sauté the onions
for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add
the rice. Stir the mixture frequently for 3 minutes.
Add
the pine nuts, raisins, mint, oregano, and salt. Stir the mixture for 2 minutes.
Then turn off the heat and wait several minutes before stirring in the cinnamon
and pepper.
Construct
the dolma, one by one, forming 2 by 5 centiliters (2/3 by 2 inch). First, lay a leaf on the
work surface, dull side up and with the stem end facing you. Place a rounded
tablespoon of the rice mixture in the center of the leaf. Fashion this mixture
into a horizontal (left to right) rectangular mound. Fold the stem end over the
rice mixture. Next, fold over the sides of the leaf. Finish making the cylinder
by rolling the package away from you. Expect to make about twenty dolma.
Line
the bottom of a large, thick, wide, and flat-bottomed sauté (or other shallow,
straight-sided) pan with a single layer of the unused vine leaves.
Place
the dolma seam side down in the pan in neat, semitight rows.
Pour
the lemon juice evenly over the dolma. Next, pour the 35 centiliters or 1 1/2 cups of freshly
boiled water over the dolma.
Weight
the dolma down with a heavy, heat-proof, flat plate that just fits into the pan.
This helps prevent the dolma from losing their symmetrical shape as they cook.
Bring
the preparation to a simmer over low to moderate heat. Cover the pan and gently
simmer the dolma for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed most of
the liquid.
Turn
off the heat, remove the lid and plate, and let the preparation come to room
temperature. The rice should absorb the excess liquid as it cools. If not, drain
off the remaining liquid.
Serve
chilled or at room temperature. In the former case, refrigerate the dolma for at
least 1 hour. If you transfer the dolma from the pan to a serving platter, be
careful not to rip the leaves.
Photo by Mauro Cateb - CC BY-SA 3.0
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Yalanci Dolma Turkey
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