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Dolmades or Dolmadakia (plural) , Dolmas or Dolma (Ντολμάς) is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Balkans and surrounding regions, Middle East, the Caucasus (most of these regions having a common Ottoman heritage), Russia, Central and South Asia. Common vegetables to stuff include tomato, pepper, onion, zucchini, and eggplant. Grape or cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling are called 'sarma', but are also often called 'dolma' or 'yaprak dolma'. 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 the Italian cuisine, where they are named ripieni ("stuffed").[1]

Names and etymology

Dolma is a verbal noun of the Turkish verb dolmak, 'to be stuffed', and means 'stuffed (thing)'.[2][3] [4] Dolma 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 like "kiraz yaprağı sarma" (stuffed cherry leaves) do not have this confusion.

Dolma cooked with olive oil without minced meat is sometimes called yalancı dolma, "yalancı" literally meaning 'liar' (which in this case means 'false' or 'fake') in Turkish.[5][6]
Different types of dolma

In some countries, the usual name for the dish is a borrowing of dolma or yaprak (meaning 'leaf' in Turkish), 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,"dolma", Persian: ياپراق‎ "yaprakh" 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.
Preparing dolma
Variants
Armenian traditional national dish of the dolma

In Armenian cuisine, minced lamb meat or beef is mixed with rice and wrapped into grape leaves (tpov tolma - թփով տոլմա) or occasionally in cabbage leaves (kaghambi tolma - կաղամբի տոլմա). This dish is condimented with coriander, dill, mint, pepper, cinnamon and melted butter. Sometimes chestnuts and peas are part of the mix. Yogurt with garlic is often used as a sauce. Eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, onions, quince and apples are also stuffed with lamb meat or beef and also called dolma. Echmiadzin tolma utilizes eggplants, green peppers, tomatoes, apples, and quinces. There are varying styles of how dolma is made. In Armenia, vine leaves are usually served with yogurt mixed with crushed garlic. To prepare the dish, the meat used in dolma is: pork, beef and a little lamb. Herbs such as basil, oregano, tarragon are used. When cooking dolma it is necessary to take the most delicate and young leaves. There is also a pasuts dolma - lean dolma, a stuffing that includes lentils, red kidney beans, peas, wheat grits, fried onions, tomato paste. Usually the three vegetables are cooked at the same time in the same pan. Also, eggplant shells are prepared in various ways before they are stuffed. Some blanch them in boiling water, some fry, some make a slit alongside the vegetable, some simply cut off the hat, scoop out the flesh and fill up the cavity with the stuffing.
Azerbaijani traditional national dish of the yaprag dolması
Azerbaijani traditional national dish yay dolması

In Azerbaijan, small portions of minced lamb meat (or lamb-and-beef) are mixed with leek and rice. They may be wrapped into grape or cabbage leaves, or be stuffed into eggplants, green peppers, tomatoes, apples or quince. The most common varieties of the Azerbaijani dolma are yarpag dolmasi (grape leaf dolma), kalam dolmasi (cabbage leaf dolma), pomidor dolmasi (tomato dolma), badimjan dolmasi (eggplant dolma), bibar dolmasi (green pepper dolma), yalanchi dolma (lit. "false dolma"; meat replaced by rice), hornbeam-Pip dolmasi (meat wrapped into linden leaves picked up in mid-May), dali dolma (meat mixed with rice, peas, rapontica, dill and/or mint and stuffed into eggplants), lavangi dolmasi (originated in the Talysh[disambiguation needed] region; sour plum paste, grained nuts, onion stuffed in chicken, fish, or eggplant), shirin dolma (lit. "sweet dolma"; meat mixed with chestnuts, plums and concentrated grape juice, and wrapped into cabbage leaves). Sour clotted milk is used as a sauce

In Bangladesh and the West Bengal state in India, pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica) is used for stuffing fish, meat, or vegetables and goes by the name of dolma or the local variant dorma. During the times of the Muslim rulers called Nawabs of Bengal, this dish came to the region with its Turkish name, only the vegetable used to stuff has changed.

In Cypriot cuisine, stuffed vine leaves are called koupepia (Greek: κουπεπια). Greek Cypriots call the rest of the stuffed vegetables either gemista 'stuffed things' or dolmades (plural of dolma). Meatless versions are called orfana 'orphan'; this may be for fasting or when stuffing zucchini flowers.

In Egypt, dolma is called Mahshi Wara' inab. Unlike other Levant or Turkic countries, dolma in Egypt is eaten hot, not as an appetizer, but could be part of a main dish. It usually has a certain mixture (khaltat wara' inab) that is made of rice, tomato sauce, and little chops of onions and parsley as a stuffing. Dolma in Egypt, unlike other countries, is very small, that you could eat two in one bite. Not only grape leaves are used to make wara' inab in Egypt, but also tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, and cabbage. They also use lettuce, but they cook the stuffing only, not the lettuce then wrap it. Potatoes and artichokes are used, but aren't stuffed with the khaltat wara' inab, but they are stuffed with mixture of mutton and tomato sauce, potatoes and artichokes (mahsi bataatis and mahshi kharshouf) aren't a preferred type of mahshi for vegetarians.

In Greek cuisine, dolma usually refers to the vine-leaf version, and there are many variations. Some prepare it with an avgolemono (egg and lemon) sauce, others prefer a tomato sauce. They can be cooked in a pan in the oven, while others prefer to cook them on the stovetop.[7] Stuffed peppers, tomatoes, and other vegetables are called gemista (Greek: γεμιστά 'stuffed thing'); the stuffing is typically rice-based and meatless, though meat versions exist as well.

In Iran, the mixture of ground lamb or beef, rice, split yellow peas, and savory herbs is used as the filling, wrapped either in grape vine leaves (dolmeh barg mo - دلمه برگ مو), cabbage leaves (dolmeh kalam - دلمه کلم), eggplant or aubergine (dolmeh bādenjān - دلمه بادنجان), tomato (dolmeh gojeh farangi - دلمه گوجه‌فرنگی), or in bell peppers (dolmeh felfel - دلمه فلفل).

In Iraq, the mixture of ground lamb or beef with rice is usually made with many different fillings in the same preparing pot, as well as pomegranate juice, prominently used by the North-Iraqis to give it a unique taste. The Assyrians of Iraq may either call it dolma or yaprekh which is the Syriac term for stuffed grape leaves. Iraqi Arabs usually served dolma without yoghurt. Often chicken or beef ribs are added to the cooking pot, and sometimes served with the dolma instead of masta or khalwah. Iraqi dolma is usually always cooked and served in a tomato-based sauce. In Mosul Dolma is a very popular food. In mosul they also include courggetes, tomatoes, onions, peppers and grape leaves. They are occasionally smoked.
Levantine style, yalangi with baby carrots and potatoes

In Israel, vine leaves are commonly stuffed with a combination of meat and rice, although other fillings, such as lentils, have evolved among the various Jewish, Arab and Armenian communities.[8]

In the Palestinian Territories, stuffed grape leaves are called "Warak Dawali" in Arabic and are stuffed with parsley rice and ground beef or lamb.

In Poland, the dish is called "gołąbki" and contains rice and meat with different spices, wrapped in white cabbage leaves. It is cooked in water, served warm, often with tomato sauce.

In Romania, sarma are wrapped either in grape leaves (sarmale în foi de viţă), in cabbage leaves (sarmale în foi de varză) or in bell peppers (ardei umpluţi). They are often eaten with hot mămăliga and sour cream or yogurt.

In Sweden, Kåldolmar is a Swedish dish inspired by dolma, probably brought to Sweden by king Charles XII who was held captive by the Turks in Bender after losing the Battle of Poltava against the Russians. It is made of cabbage instead of grape leaves and contains minced pork or beef and rice. It is eaten with boiled potatoes, brown sauce and lingonberry jam.
Yaprak Sarma; at times considered a kind of dolma. It is a classic of Turkish cuisine.

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, dill and mint) and spices (usually allspice, cinnamon and black pepper). Meat dolma is always eaten hot; meatless ones, "zeytinyağlı dolma" (dolma with olive oil) - "yalancı dolma" (false dolma), usually at room temperature, as a meze with lemon sauce. Dolma with meat is a main course and is always served with yogurt, normally garlic-yogurt. An egg-milk based sauce is sometimes used for yaprak sarma with meat in some regions. In others (for example Tokat, Black Sea region), a natural tomato sauce is served on the plate. Common types include peppers (biber dolma), eggplant/aubergine (patlıcan dolma), artichoke ("enginar dolması"), zucchini/courgette (kabak dolma), plum (erikli dolma), collard greens (karalahana dolma), vine, chard and cabbage leaves (lahana sarma), zucchini flowers (çiçek dolma) or sun-dried eggplant dolma (Gaziantep). 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 a mixture of rice and meat and bean. In some regions rice is replaced or mixed with bulgur (pounded wheat). The inner part of some vegetables or fruits (which are hollowed out) can be added into the filling. Another special chapter must be opened for "dolmas" of fish and seafood in the Turkish cuisine, like mussels (midye dolma), filled squids ("kalamar dolma") and filled mackerel ("uskumru dolma").

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