Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Mediterranean cuisine and surrounding regions including the Balkans, the Caucasus, Russia, Central Asia and Middle East. Common vegetables to stuff include tomato, pepper, onion, zucchini, eggplant, and garlic. Meat dolmas are generally served warm, often with tahini or egg-lemon sauce. Dolmas prepared with olive oil and stuffed with rice are generally served cold with a garlic-yogurt sauce. Stuffed vegetables are also common in Greek cuisine, called gemista, as well as in Italian cuisine, where they are named ripieni ("stuffed"). Dishes of cabbage or grape leaves wrapped around a filling have been known since antiquity, where in ancient Greece they were called "fyllas" (fyllon-??????= leaf), and currently are called dolmadaki or in general dolma or yaprak dolma ('leaf dolma'), and are also used to make sarma.
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Names and etymology
Dolma is a verbal noun in Turkish for the word dolmak, "to be stuffed." Dolma without meat is sometimes called yalanc? dolma 'fake dolma' in Turkish. Versions have been known in Persia since at least as early as the 17th century. M?rz? ?Al?-Akbar Khan ??paz-b???, chef to the court of N??er-al-D?n Shah (1264-1313/1848-96), recorded dolma as a category of Persian cuisine and gave recipes for stuffing grape leaves, cabbage leaves, cucumbers, eggplants, apples, and quinces.
In some countries, the usual name for the dish is a borrowing of dolma and in others it is a calque, and sometimes the two coexist with distinct meanings: Albanian: japrak; Arabic: ????? ma?shi ('stuffed'), ???? ??? ??? (ma?sh? waraq 'inab, 'stuffed grape leaf'); Persian: ??????,"dolme", ??? "barg"; Greek: ??????? dolmas (for the leaf-wrapped kind) and ??????? yemista 'stuffed'; Kurdish: dolma? (?????), yaprakh (??????). In Aleppo, the word ???? yabraq refers to stuffed vine leaves, while ???? ma?sh? refers to stuffed cabbage leaves and stuffed vegetables.
An alternative etymology comes from Armenian ????? [tol'm?] or ????? [dol'm?], coming from the words toli, 'grape leave', and ma, 'wrapped'. Toli as a grape leave was recorded in the inscriptions of the Kingdom of Van (Urartu). Initially, in Classical Armenian, the dish was called Tolimis, meaning "meat in grape leaf". Over time, as often it happens with the endings of Indo-European languages such as Armenian, Tolimis turned into Tolim, followed by Tolima, and finally Tolma.
Internationally, the food is called dolma. It is a stuffed 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.
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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.
Armenian Lenten Dolma
In addition to the traditional dolmas, Armenia has a giant vegan variant called Lenten Dolma ("Pasuts Tolma" or "?????? ?????"). It is wrapped with cabbage leaves, and stuffed with red beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, cracked wheat, tomato paste, onion and many spices and flavorings. Keeping with the Armenian lenten rules, it is vegan, but despite its name of Lenten dolma, it is commonly prepared year round. Pasuts tolma is made of seven different grains - chickpea, bean, lentil, cracked wheat, pea, rice and maize. All the grains are boiled. This dolma is called pasuts because the Christian New Year features the fast days, which end on Easter day (pasuts tolma means "fast day tolma"). The seven grains symbolize God's divine number 7, which is associated with divine perfection and completion.
With sea food
Dolma could be made by using seafood. It is sometimes made with different types of fish or mussels. Stuffed mussels, called midye dolma is very popular in Turkey. Midye dolma may be filled with rice, onion, black pepper and pimento spice.
Middle Eastern Variants
Dolma has been a part of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries. It is a common dish in Iraqi cuisine, which includes stuffed cabbage leaves, onions in aubergines cooked in tomato sauce.
Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Iraqis and Iranians have been making stuffed grape leaves for centuries. Over time, regional variations developed. In the Persian Gulf, basmati rice is preferred, and the flavor of the stuffing may be enhanced using tomatoes, onions and cumin.
In Israel, vine leaves, Swiss chard, artichoke hearts, mallow, cabbage, potatoes, eggplants, onions, dates, zucchini, bell peppers, beets and hot chili peppers 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, Palestinian and Armenian communities.
Egyptians call this main course Mahshi (also spelled Mashi or Mashy). It is stuffed vine leaves but traditionally, cabbage is used in the winter and vine leaves are used in the summer.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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