Dolma Meat Filled Recipes

Steps:

• Combine meat with olive oil, onion, herbs, rice and season generously.
• Line the pot you will be cooking your dolma in with a couple of layers of torn grape leaves (to prevent the dolma from being scorched while cooking).
• Place a grape leaf, shiny side down, on surface in front of you.
• If the stem is quite thick, cut it out with a knife, making a V.
• Pinch off about a teaspoon of the meat filling and place in the centre of the leaf.
• Fold in sides of leaf and roll up, not too loose and not too tight (allowing a bit for the expansion of the rice as it cooks), into neat little packets.
• Place neatly in pot and continue making dolma until you've used up all your meat mixture.
• Pour lemon juice over and cover dolma with boiling water, covering dolma with about 1/2 inch of water.
• Weight down with a plate and put lid on pot.
• Cook at a gentle simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until rice is tender.
• Carefully remove dolma, and place in a heatproof platter.
• Make Egg-Lemon Sauce (Avgolemono).
• Beat the eggs with the lemon juice and corn flour.
• Slowly dribble in hot stock left from cooking dolma, whisking egg mixture constantly.
• Keep adding hot liquid slowly, whisking, to temper the eggs.
• Pour the egg mixture into the pot with the remaining stock and whisk over a medium-low heat until sauce has thickened.
• Pour sauce over your dolma and enjoy!

Steps:

• Mix together the beef, lamb, rice, olive oil, salt, mint, parsley, pepper, oregano and onions. This is the filling. Next, rinse the grape leaves and separate in a colander. Place 2 to 3 grape leaves stem-side up on a work station; they should overlap each other. Place desired amount of filling in the center and roll, folding in the sides. Repeat with the remaining grape leaves and filling. Arrange tightly together in a stockpot. Once the stockpot is full, cut the lemons in half and put on top. Cover with beef stock and simmer until the rice is soft, 30 to 45 minutes.

Steps:

• Unroll grape leaves and place in a pot of boiling water. Reduce heat to medium and let boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, pour out hot water, and cover leaves with cold water. Let soak while preparing stuffing.
• Knead the rest of the ingredientes together. Spoon filling inside a leaf and roll like a burrito, sealing completely.
• In large pot, add olive oil to cover bottom or butter. Arrange rolled dolmades on top. Do this all at once, not as you roll them. Pour chicken broth over dolmades, cover, and simmer for 2 hours.
• Serve with Greek yogurt and lemon wedges.

Steps:

• Dice the onions and sauté with 1/4 cup of olive oil.
• When they turn translucent, add the pine nuts and sauté for 5 more minutes.
• Add rice and stir constantly for 5-10 minutes until the rice is translucent.
• Add the spices (dried mint, cinnamon, lemon salt, black pepper, dried currants, sugar and allspice) and chopped parsley.
• After another quick stir, add 1/2 cup of boiling water and simmer on low medium heat for 15-20 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice mixture.
• Take off heat and let cool.
• And now, here comes the fun part. Traditionally, you would put a spoonful of the cooled mixture in the center of the top part of the leaf, fold the sides inwards and then roll the leaf like a cylinder. But since I have "The Ultimate Dolma Machine" (follow the link mentioned in the description section), I just placed a leaf on the rubber compartment of the machine, put a tbps of mixture in the middle and with a single slide, there comes my dolma from the other side of the machine. The process was a breeze. It took me only 10 minutes to roll nearly 40 perfectly shaped dolmas. Below is the process fully photographed.
• As the final step, spread a layer of vine leaves on the bottom of a large and heavy pot (to prevent the stuffed leaves from burning).
• Lay all your dolmas side by side and tuck very tightly.
• Transfer the remaining 1/4 cups of olive oil, juice of half a lemon and 2 cups of boiling water, cover with a plate upside down (so that the dolmas don't move around in boiling water) and bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until all the water is absorbed (roughly 45-60 minutes).
• Transfer to your serving dish and let cool.

Steps:

• Combine ground beef, 2 1/2 cans of tomato paste, parsley, green onion, butter, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
• Before adding uncooked rice, rinse until water runs clear; this keeps the rice from becoming sticky. Add rice after rinsing and mix contents until blended well.
• Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil; add cabbage. Boil until just tender enough to fold, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
• Meanwhile, hollow out bell peppers, eggplants, and zucchini.
• Stuff hollowed vegetables with meat mixture. Set in a large pot (pack vegetables together so there isn't much room in between them). Fill cabbage leaves with 3 to 4 tablespoons of leftover meat mixture and set in the pot with the other vegetables. Pour water in the pot on top of the vegetables until almost covered. Stir in remaining tomato paste. Weigh down the food by placing a heavy, heat-proof plate on top.
• Bring water to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cover the pot. Let cook for 1 hour. Drain half of the water in the pot (leave heavy plate until done cooking) and recover, reducing heat to a simmer, and allow to slow cook for 1 hour more. Serve warm and enjoy!

Steps:

• Peel the zucchini and potatoes.
• Chop the stem off the zucchinis.
• Chop the potatoes and zucchini in half short ways so now you have 4 zucchini pieces, each about 3 inches long and 4 potato pieces, each about 2 inches long.
• Carefully scoop out the inside of each zucchini piece, leaving a wall about 1/4 inch thick around. Discard the scooped out part.
• Carefully scoop out each potato in the same manner but save the scooped out portion.
• Mix together the ground meat, 1 tablespoon of parsley, rice, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
• Stuff the meat mixture into the potatoes and zucchini, loosely.
• Heat oil in large pan and saute onion and lamb together.
• Add the water and bring to boil over medium high heat.
• Add the chick peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
• Put the stuffed vegetables in the sauce along with the reserved potato pieces. Cook covered for 1/2 hour.
• Remove from heat and add lemon juice and 1 tbsp parsley.

Steps:

• PREPARATION OF VEGETABLES:.
• A variety of vegetables can and should be used including red, gold, and or green bell peppers. Also used are large sized zucchini squash, tomatoes, and onions.
• Scoop out the vegetables leaving an opening for the filling of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and about 2-3 inches deep. Fill the scooped out vegetables with the filling mixture and place upright in a large covered casserole.
• Pour over the crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce with broth or 1 cup of water. Cover and cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 1-1 1/2 hours.
• Try this dish served with a dollop of Mahdzoon (YOGURT) over the filled vegetables.
• See my Mahdzoon recipe -- ENJOY!