Dolma (Rice-and-Meat Stuffed Vegetables)

Rice-and-meat stuffed vegetables, which often go by the name dolma, are popular throughout Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Most versions follow the same basic template: vegetables (including cabbage or grape leaves) stuffed with a hearty mixture of ground meat and rice, aromatics like onion and garlic, tomato purée, red pepper paste, and herbs, slowly braised in a savory, tangy tomato broth. 

Once cooked, the rice bursts open, transforming the filling into a moist, tender, and cohesive mixture. The bundles are like juicy meatballs encased in a tender vegetable wrapper. Nestled in a pool of braising liquid, with a dollop of cooling yogurt on the side, dolma is a deeply satisfying dish—and a favorite in my Armenian family, both as a meal for large gatherings and even as a weeknight supper when made on a more modest scale. 

A note about terminology: Dolma and sarma are generic Turkish terms meaning "stuffed" or "wrapped," respectively, and both can refer to the same basic dish. While usage varies and not everyone agrees on the precise definitions, to the degree there is a difference it's that dolma tends to refer to stuffed vegetables, typically bell peppers, large mild chile peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and tomato. Sarma, on the other hand, is used when the filling is rolled inside grape or cabbage leaves. With that said, many people just call the dish dolma even when cooking a combination of both rolled leaves and stuffed vegetables in the same pot, which is quite common. This recipe is written to use bell peppers, but the headnote contains instructions for other vegetable containers and leaf wrappers; for clarity’s sake, I'm calling this recipe dolma.

My dolma recipe is pretty much identical to my family’s. Until now, my family’s recipe had only been passed around orally, with many of the essential techniques and steps implied but left unsaid. Because the dish is practically second-nature to everyone, the hardest part of sharing this recipe was getting everyone to spill their secrets so I could put it all down on paper.

While I wanted to stay true to the version I grew up with, I also wanted to experiment with incorporating a few tips and tricks to make what is usually a somewhat laborious process easier. After some tweaking, I’ve come up with a method for dolma that is easy, delicious, and satisfying no matter the cook's experience.

How to Fill Dolma

The typical dolma filling consists of sautéed aromatics—onions, garlic, dried spices, and herbs—combined with uncooked rice, ground beef or lamb, tomato and red pepper pastes, and fresh parsley.

The biggest change I made to the original recipe was to par-cook the rice before folding it into the filling. Traditionally, raw rice and meat are mixed together to make it; as the rice cooks, it draws moisture from the meat, drying it out. Par-cooking the rice first allows the grains to begin the process of gelatinization: They swell with moisture and soften before it’s used in the filling, keeping the meat moist and tender. It also speeds up the cooking of the filling, preventing the vegetables from becoming overly soft. The vegetables should be tender, but not fall apart before they make their way to the plate.

For meat that stays juicy, I add a bit of baking soda to the ground meat, raising its pH and helping it retain moisture. As contributor Tim Chin wrote in his marinades investigation, a higher pH makes it more difficult for proteins to bond tightly during the cooking process. “Water gets trapped in the spaces between proteins,” he says, “so the meat holds on to more water and stays juicy.”  

I like dried mint and basil as flavorings, though neither are traditional in my family, along with Aleppo and black pepper. (Dried basil—especially opal basil, which is the basil used most often in Levantine cuisine—doesn’t get nearly enough respect, and its floral, herbaceous flavor is especially nice in meatballs and meat stuffings.)

Braising Dolma

Once the vegetables are prepared, they are set into a pot to braise. The braising liquid for dolma can be as simple as just water (or broth), but it’s as likely to be somewhat more complex: a puréed tomato product of some kind, lemon juice, and a fat like butter or oil, all of which yield a bright, silky sauce to serve over and around the stuffed vegetables.

I like to use tomato paste in place of the traditional purée, since it forms a lovely, potent sauce when thinned out with water, and because I always have some on hand. Once the stuffed vegetables are combined with the braising liquid, a little water is added until the vegetables are fully submerged. 

To keep the stuffed vegetables from floating in the pot and to keep the exposed surfaces of the filling from drying out and forming a skin, cooks usually set a small plate on top of the vegetables to weigh them down. The pot is then covered with a lid and heated on the stovetop (or in an oven) until the meat and rice is tender and the braising liquid has transformed into velvety sauce, an hour or so later. (Unlike some other rice-stuffed vegetable dishes, the stuffing in dolma should be juicy and soft, like a tender meatball, and not a loose mixture of rice and meat.) 

I prefer braising my dolma in the oven, rather than on the stovetop, since it’s a more gentle and even cooking method. This means you can set a timer and walk away without the fear of scorching your vegetables on the bottom of the pot or fussing with a finely-calibrated burner setting.

Stuffing bell peppers is both easy and quick to do, so that’s the version I’ve focused on here. They’re easy to purchase in uniform shapes and sizes, and they take mere minutes to prep: You simply have to lop off their tops and remove the cores. Look for large peppers with square bases, as this will help them sit upright in the pot. Though green peppers are traditional, any color will do—I like an assortment of colors myself.

I like to think of bell peppers as a gateway vegetable for dolma—easy to use, and the perfect introduction to this delicious and satisfying dish. Once you’ve tried them, and become a fan, you might want to try using other vegetables too.

Preparing Other Vegetables for Dolma

Once you get comfortable with peppers and want to start utilizing other vegetables for dolma, things get slightly more complicated, especially when you use more than one kind in the same pot (as we usually do). They’re all pretty easy to prepare, but slightly more involved than bell peppers, which need nothing more than coring and filling. Moreover, it can be hard to predict exactly how many vegetables you’ll need, so it’s best to purchase a few extra to ensure you don’t run out of vessels for the filling. When you use a combination of wrappers, it’s even more challenging to figure out the exact amounts you need, and a bit of math is often required for those who want to mix-and-match.

Here’s a quick guide on how to make dolma with different vegetables.

Tomatoes

• Use the same number of round, uniform tomatoes as peppers, or a larger number of smaller plum tomatoes. Remove the tops and cores, then mince and add the cores to the braising liquid, as they’d add too much moisture to the filling. Keep in mind that tomatoes tend to become very fragile after baking, so take care when removing them from the pot and avoid stacking them when serving. I recommend using a serving spoon—instead of tongs—to gently pick them up.

Zucchini, Summer Squash, and Eggplant

• Look for vegetables that are as cylindrical and as uniform in thickness as possible. This is easier to do with zucchini and summer squash; you’ll need to find Asian eggplants, since fat globe eggplants are too portly to work, since they can’t easily be formed into small cylinders. Dolma is often made using dried eggplants—which have the benefit of coming pre-cored and ready-to-stuff once soaked in warm water to rehydrate them—but they are hard to find outside of Middle Eastern grocers or online.  
• Cut the vegetables into 2 1/2- to 3-inch lengths, taking care to make sure the bottoms are flat. Using a small spoon, hollow out the vegetables, leaving about 1/4-inch of flesh at the base and and sides. (You should be able to feel the spoon from the underside of the base.)
• Six pounds of zucchini, summer squash, and/or eggplant should be enough for all the filling below—each vessel should get about 1/3 cup or 85 grams—though it’s not a bad idea to have a few extra vegetables on hand, especially when their diameters are on the narrow side.

Cabbage

• Though cabbage is one of the most involved vegetables to prepare, it’s one of my favorite wrappers to use. (Though it isn’t traditional, Tuscan kale will work here too, as long as you shave the rigid rib until it’s the same thickness as the leaves, and blanch the leaves until tender.)
• To make the leaves flexible enough to work with, it’s essential to tenderize them in boiling water. Use a sharp knife to remove the stem, along with the first quarter-inch or so of the surrounding leaves. Then, using a paring knife and a small spoon, scoop out the core completely, so the leaves are easily separated once blanched. 
• In an 8- to 10-quart Dutch oven or stockpot, bring 4 quarts (3.7L) of water to a boil over high heat. Add the cabbage, cut-side down, and cover the pot. Reduce heat to medium-high, keeping the pot at a vigorous simmer, and cook cabbage until a paring knife inserted into it yields easily, about 30 minutes. Transfer the cabbage to a large bowl, cover with cold water, and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes.
• Once cool, carefully peel the outer leaves from cabbage, taking care not to tear them. (You will need a total of 20 to 22 leaves 5- to 6-inches in diameter, so look for a large cabbage that weighs at least 3 pounds, or use two smaller ones.) To make the leaves as flexible as possible without breaking them, use a paring knife to shave off the thick side of the leaf’s central rib, making it flush with the remainder of the leaf.
• To assemble, set one cabbage leaf on the counter rib side down with the stem end facing you. Place 1/4 cup (60g) of filling in the center of the leaf, then roll the stem end away from you and over the filling to gently form a 3-inch log. Fold the sides of the leaf in toward the filling like an envelope, then roll the bundle over itself into a compact log. Repeat with remaining leaves until no filling remains.
• Use some of the remaining cabbage leaves to line the Dutch oven before starting step 6 of the recipe below. This creates a nest for the cabbage bundles. Lay the cabbage logs around the pot so they’re snug against one another, making two layers if needed.

Grape Leaves

• My family grows grape leaves, relying on a treasured grapevine my grandfather found in the wild and transplanted to his yard fifty or so years ago—the clones of which are in nearly every one of my family member’s backyards now. These are the best grape leaves for sarma, but the brined, jarred ones you can buy from Middle Eastern grocers aren't terrible, either—and are a whole lot easier to find if you don’t have grape leaves growing in your garden..
• To use brined grape leaves, rinse at least 23—it’s good to have extras, but one large 16-ounce jar should do the trick— leaves in cold water, then drain them in a colander, pressing gently to remove any excess water.
• Fill and roll the leaves as you would with the cabbage, using 1/4 cup (60g) filling per leaf (each should be 5- to 6-inches in diameter). (If you end up with smaller leaves, overlap pairs of them to create a single large wrapper.) Set the leaves shiny (or bright green) side down, with the rib facing up. As with the cabbage sarma, you’ll want to line the pot with leftover grape leaves (or blanched cabbage leaves) to hold the rolls in place. (There’s no need to use a whole head of cabbage; you can just peel off a few exterior leaves and blanch them separately.)

All these instructions might seem complicated, but once you’ve made dolma several times, it’ll start to feel like second nature.  The dish is an excellent way to make the most of an end-of-summer bounty of garden vegetables, but even if you aren’t using produce straight from your garden, dolma is delicious. And if you love it as much as I do, then it’s sure to become a staple in your home as it is in mine.