Comments on: Stuffed grape leaves (a.k.a. dolmas)

By: Molly Watson

Molly Watson — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:05:11 +0000

They don’t dry out because they’re all covered in foil and drizzled with olive oil. The stovetop with water method has, for me, always led to the slightly mushier stuffed grape leaves that, while delicious, were exactly what I was trying to avoid with this recipe! I wanted to keep some of the grape leaf texture, which this does. They are not dry at all, but they have more body than the softer steamed versions. I make no claim to authenticity here – just deliciousness!

By: Nippah

Nippah — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:09:32 +0000

I’ve seen a lot of recipes for stuffed grape leaves, but this is the first one that called for baking them. How did you keep them from drying out in the oven? My family’s been making grape leaves for generations, and I second nori’s suggestion about not pre-cooking the ingredients. Also, if you do try cooking them in a pot on a stovetop, don’t forget to put a heat-proof dish on top of the stuffed rolls to weigh ‘em down.

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:35:43 +0000

Thanks for the suggestion!

By: nori

nori — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:34:16 +0000

I couldnt pass this entry without making a comment. First of all it looks delicious. As “stuffed grape leaves” reffer to a aegean sea cusine(belongs to Greek as well as Turkish cuisine), I see you use “dolma” word. “Dolma” means stuffed, thats true. But it reffers to dishes like, where the vegetable is litterally “stuffed”. Such as, tomatoes, green peppers, red peppers But the very right word in turkish, is “sarma” which means that the vegetable is “rolled”. Such as grape leaves, beat leaves, cabbage etc. I would like to suggest you, dont pre-cook the ingredients. Just toss them together (uncooked), then roll the leaves, place them tightly in a cook dish, add some tap-water (depends on the how many rolls you have), cook with lemon slices and serve with olive oil Thank you.

By: celeritas

celeritas — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:56:03 +0000

Our Kurdish friends love dolma but as grape leaves aren’t always available they usually use silver beat leaves. I think that dolma is even better like that – do try it.