Dolma is grape leaves or vegetables stuffed with minced meat. As a rule, the dish is prepared from meat and rice, but there are also vegetarian variations of this recipe. Dolma is made in many countries, and each version has its own characteristics. For example, a Georgian dish is quite spicy, while Armenians add spices very carefully.
Badimdzhan dolmasy. Recipe with photo.
Today we will stuff vegetables with minced meat: tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. This dish is summer, but at the same time very filling and fatty, i.e. Quite heavy on the stomach. In northern latitudes, fresh vegetables are available only in summer. We now have everything you need for this dish on sale all year round. You need to take green bell peppers, choose the juiciest ones and preferably the correct shape.
Eggplant, demyanka, sinenki (sinenki), badimdzhan - all these are names of the same vegetable. In Russian, eggplant is a loanword from Turkish and Persian (Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Vasmer). This vegetable was called Demyanka after St. Demyan, because... Previously, the fruit ripened on the day of his memory (demyanka). Remember that the actor who played Shurik in Gaidai’s comedies had the last name Demyanenko. Eggplants are called blue in the southern regions of Russia.
Why is the name badimjan dolmasy indicated in the header? Badimjan is the name of the eggplant vegetable in Azerbaijani. In Azerbaijani cuisine there is such a dish as badimjan dolmasi, i.e. Demyanki dolma, or eggplant dolma. Thus, dolma is not only made from grape leaves. In Azerbaijan, this dish is prepared mainly from lamb. But nothing stops us from preparing it from pork and beef. Please note that lamb is the hardest meat for the stomach. If you have problems with the stomach or other internal organs, it may be better to prepare this dish only from beef.
Ingredients:
- Eggplants, bell peppers, tomatoes
- Chopped meat. Mixed minced meat
- Melted butter
- Chicken bouillon
- Salt pepper
It is better to choose smaller eggplants, peppers no larger than medium, because... it contains the most minced meat, and the tomatoes need to be strong so that they don’t completely fall apart during cooking. All vegetables are stuffed with fried minced meat. For minced meat, I take half beef and half pork, and I also make sure to add lard to make the minced meat fattier. We already have the preparation of minced meat in a separate blog post: minced meat, mixed minced meat. If you cook with lamb, then fat tail fat is added to the minced meat. Before preparing stuffed eggplants, stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes, you need to process all the vegetables and prepare the minced meat for the filling.
First of all, you need to deal with the eggplants (blue ones, demyankas). We make a longitudinal cut and salt.
Place the cut and salted eggplants in a bowl, pour boiling water over them and place them under pressure. I usually use antique irons for this.
Tomatoes are processed next. Tomatoes need to cut off the cap, but not cut it off completely, leaving a place where it is attached to the main part of the tomato. The core of the tomato needs to be cut out and chopped.
Now we have all the ingredients for the filling: minced meat, chopped tomato pulp, melted vegetable oil, salt and pepper.
Place the minced meat in a frying pan and leave to simmer, stirring constantly.
While the minced meat is stewing (without oil and salt and pepper), process the peppers in the same way as tomatoes. We cut off the cap, but do not completely cut it off from the main part of the pepper. We clean the core and all the seeds from the pepper.
Do not forget to stir the minced meat all the time until all the liquid has evaporated from it.
When the liquid has evaporated, you can add the chopped tomato pulp.
The tomato pulp turned out to be not enough, I peeled another whole tomato, cut out all the hard parts, and chopped the rest.
We also add this chopped tomato to the minced meat and mix.
It's time to salt and pepper the minced meat.
Immediately add melted vegetable oil to the minced meat.
While we were busy with minced meat, tomatoes and bell peppers, our eggplants gave up all their bitterness to the water. We remove the oppression and see black water.
The eggplants need to be squeezed out so that as much liquid as possible comes out of them. It is best to ask your husband to apply force and squeeze the eggplants well. Don't forget to remove the pulp and seeds.
While you are working on vegetables, do not forget to constantly stir the minced meat.
The minced meat is fried and all the vegetables are prepared.
Stuff the eggplants with a teaspoon.
Stuff the tomatoes.
And finally, it was time to stuff the peppers.
Place stuffed eggplants on the bottom, then stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes.
Cover with a lid, or you can use a bowl if your vegetables protrude above the edge of the pan. Simmer for an hour and a half over low heat.
Place on a plate. Typically, a serving of badimdzhan dolmasa or eggplant dolma consists of all the stuffed vegetables, one piece at a time. But our demyanki were small, so I put two demyanki per serving.
When serving, be sure to pour over the liquid remaining in the pan. With such detailed instructions and a step-by-step recipe, you will definitely be able to prepare badimjan dolmasy in Azerbaijani style!
Bon appetit! As you can see, this dish is quite labor-intensive and expensive, but your loved ones will appreciate the efforts you make. It’s easier and faster to prepare a dish that is similar only in name, but not in taste: stuffed peppers, stuffed tomatoes.
This dish is also called dolma in Azerbaijan, just like stuffed grape leaves. And, by the way, the local tradition of preparing stuffed vegetables was recently even included in the list of world cultural heritage sites! Brand chef, Baku resident Bakhtiyar Aliyev says that before cooking the pepper must be fried - this will prepare it and reveal the aroma. It’s also better to prepare the filling – any kind – in advance, rather than adding it raw. You need to combine the ingredients at the very end, leaving them to simmer or bake together for a short time. We offer two recipes for a traditional dish.
Stuffed with rice and lentils
Ingredients:
- Bell pepper - 2 pcs.
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Baku tomatoes - 2 pcs.
- Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. spoons
- Olive oil - 1 tbsp. spoon
- Boiled basmati rice - 80 g
- Boiled wild rice - 50 g
- Boiled lentils – 120 g
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Salt and pepper - to taste
Preparation:
Remove seeds from bell peppers. Carefully cut off the “lids” - they will be needed for decoration. Bake the pepper in the oven or fry in a frying pan on all sides until half cooked. Blanch Baku tomatoes in boiling water, cool, remove the skin. Finely chop the onion and sauté together with the tomatoes. Bakhtiyar Aliyev does not recommend replacing them with others: “It is very difficult to do without Baku tomatoes in an Azerbaijani dish, because they are iconic and very tasty,” advises the chef. Set aside a little sautéing; it will be needed for decoration. To the remaining vegetables, add two types of rice, lentils, herbs, chopped garlic clove, salt and pepper to taste. Mix the filling thoroughly and press it tightly into the peppers. Cover with lids and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180°. Serve by placing the prepared peppers on top of the sautéed vegetables.
Stuffed with minced meat
Ingredients:
- Ground pepper - 2 pcs.
- Lamb – 200 g
- Meat broth - 100 g
- Baku tomatoes - 2 pcs.
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Red basil - a few sprigs
- Assorted greens - to taste
- Turmeric - to taste
- Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
For the sauce:
- Matsoni – 50 g
- Fresh mint - a few sprigs
- Garlic - to taste
Preparation:
Make minced meat from lamb. Fry in vegetable oil with finely chopped tomatoes and onions. If desired, you can add a little broth. The main thing is to thoroughly knead the minced meat so that there are no lumps. Add turmeric, salt and pepper to taste, finely chopped herbs. Cut the caps off the peppers, remove the seeds, bake in the oven or fry separately in a frying pan on all sides until half cooked. Fill the vegetables with meat filling and simmer in a frying pan with the addition of meat broth for 10-15 minutes. At this time, prepare the sauce: add chopped mint and a few cloves of garlic to the matsoni, stir. Ready! We and the brand chef of the Azerbaijani cuisine restaurants “Barashka” Bakhtiyar Aliyev wish you a pleasant appetite.
Azerbaijani cuisine is famous for many delicious minced meat
and vegetable
.
We have already introduced you to the recipe, and today you will learn another popular dish of oriental cuisine in the step-by-step preparation of dolma from vegetables with photos
.
This is also simply called “ traffic light
”, “
three sisters
”, “
troika
” and, as you understand, it is prepared from three types of vegetables - eggplant, bell pepper and tomatoes.
Dolma turns out to be very nourishing, tender and incredibly tasty. For minced meat, you need fatty meat, for example, lamb or veal with the addition of fat tail. The choice of vegetables also needs to be taken seriously, for example, it is better to choose large tomatoes, even, medium-sized peppers, and small eggplants. Thanks to the large number of vegetables, the dish turns out juicy, nutritious and healthy, so be sure to try vegetable dolmas.
Step-by-step preparation
- Boil the rice for 2-3 minutes. Drain in a colander and drain.
- Pass the meat through a meat grinder.
- Chop the onion very thinly and fry in oil. Add the minced meat to the onion, stir and heat.
- Remove from heat, add the minced meat to the rice and mix. Add spices crushed in a mortar. Salt and pepper our filling.
- Before filling the dolma, we must cut the stems and wash the leaves, then pour boiling water for 10 minutes.
- Place 1-2 teaspoons of minced meat on the leaves.
- Wrap the leaves in an envelope.
- Peel and finely chop the carrots and celery (celery can be replaced with onion).
- Place a saucepan on the fire, pour a little vegetable oil and butter into the bottom. Add celery and carrots and fry for 3 minutes.
- Place dolma on a vegetable “pillow”. It must be laid in dense layers.
- Cover the dish with an inverted plate and fill it with broth or water (you can use the water in which the rice was cooked). The water should slightly cover the plate.
- Place the load, bring to a low boil and simmer for 40 minutes.
Recipe preparation video
In this video you can clearly see all the stages of preparation. Pay attention to how to correctly and quickly make “envelopes” from grape leaves.
And they promised to tell you how to cook this very dol? Yesterday we were at the dacha, picked up fresh grape leaves and here it is, the promised recipe - dolma in grape leaves, very detailed with step-by-step photos. This delicious dish is prepared according to the principle of cabbage rolls, only tiny ones, and instead of cabbage, the filling is wrapped in grape leaves. In summer we use fresh, in winter we use canned or frozen, there is practically no difference in taste.
Read more about the recipe
In the melon, the eggplants and tomatoes are ripening under the sun, it’s time to prepare dolma - one of the most delicious dishes of oriental cuisine. Why eastern? But because in one form or another, in many cuisines of eastern countries there are dishes where seasonal vegetables are stuffed with minced meat.
The word “dolma” itself is of Turkic origin and translated from Azerbaijani means “filled”, “stuffed”. Prepared vegetables (more on this below) are stuffed with meat filling, generously seasoned with spices and fresh herbs and simmered over medium heat until tender.
Now let's talk about the nuances of the Azerbaijani dolma. Although there will be a lot of writing, don’t be alarmed, preparing this dish is actually not that difficult.
The first thing you need to prepare dolma is... Time. Yes, yes, dolma is a multi-step and time-consuming dish. Do you have time?))
Meat. For the filling, it is advisable to take fatty meat, that is, lamb. This is customary in classic Azerbaijani cuisine. But, if for some reason you don’t want to cook with lamb, then you can take beef and a little lamb tail. But if fat tail is not available, then you need to put a good portion of butter (of good quality and in no case margarine!) into the minced meat during frying. It is fat that makes the minced meat tender and juicy; without it, the filling will be hard and grainy, and this should not happen in dolma. The dolma filling should melt in your mouth.
Spices. In the classic version, turmeric and ground black pepper are added to the minced meat. Some families also add ground cinnamon, but this is not for everyone! If you are not familiar with the customs of oriental seasonings, then it is better not to risk it! One careless movement, one extra pinch and the taste of the spice will overwhelm the taste of the meat and the dish can no longer be saved.
By the way, dolma can be prepared without meat, vegetarian. If you are interested in details, please ask.
Vegetables. We choose small, medium-sized and hard vegetables, not overripe, otherwise during cooking they will quickly boil and lose their shape. It is advisable to choose dark eggplants for dolma, black or dark blue. But in principle this does not matter. In many families, the core (but not the pulp!) of the eggplant is removed, chopped and added to the minced meat. I don’t do this, because my family loves eggplants very much. Eggplants are tougher than other vegetables, so they need to be pre-processed. You can simply boil it in highly salted water until half cooked. To do this, put salt and eggplants in boiling water (cut off the stem and make a longitudinal cut, “rip open the belly”, I showed this in the steps) and boil until half cooked (do not boil too much, they will still be cooked with the filling). Then remove them from the water and place under running cold water to stop cooking and allow the vegetables to cool. Then squeeze lightly to remove bitterness and excess moisture. This is one way. There is another way, which I showed in steps. Choose tomatoes that are strong and small. Also, choose small bell peppers; small ones look neater in the finished dish.
Rice. Round rice is also placed in the minced meat. Round, but not large (like arborio), but small. I pre-soak it in warm water so that it cooks faster later.
Dishes. We choose cooking utensils with a thick bottom and low walls. This could be a wide frying pan for example. And size is very important. The dishes must be taken in such a size that all the stuffed vegetables fit in it and there is no free space left. Then the vegetables will not lose their shape much during cooking. For example, I have had a trained eye over the years, and I know perfectly well which amount of vegetables my dishes are suitable for. Here I will give you one piece of advice: if there is still room in the dish and the filling is already over, then place the tomatoes next to the stuffed vegetables. You don’t even need to remove the pulp from them; during the cooking process they will absorb all the juices and aromas of their “neighbors”.
Well, it seems I wrote everything. Oh yes, I forgot about the greens.
Greenery. Mint must be put into the minced meat - whether dry or fresh, it doesn’t matter, but it is mint that is required in this dish! Without mint, dolma is not dolma! Again, this is a classic. But you can also put a little dill and basil in the minced meat; this will not spoil the taste, but mint, of course, should dominate. That's all! In some cookbooks of Azerbaijani cuisine, cilantro is also indicated, but I think this is a matter of taste. I'm not adding. What is not added to minced meat is parsley! Parsley is already an Iranian, Persian dolma, but that’s a completely different story... Who wants a recipe for Iranian eggplant dolma?
Dolma in grape leaves and sauce
You can serve with any sauce, whatever you like. Mayonnaise, ketchup, or home-made will do.
We tried to make the sauce ourselves. Squeeze 2 cloves of garlic through a garlic press onto a glass of sour cream. Mixed with finely chopped dill and basil. Add a little salt and pepper. The sauce turned out great. Instead of sour cream, you can use unsweetened yogurt or matsoni, and add parsley or cilantro to the greens, but this is up to everyone’s taste.
Try to cook it, it’s very simple, the dish turns out great. You will love it and will become a regular on your home menu.
Bon appetit!
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