Dolma is one of the great dishes of the eastern Mediterranean: vine leaves, cabbage leaves or vegetables filled with herby rice, sometimes with minced meat, and gently cooked. Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Lebanese and Iranians all make it, and all are proud of their version. Here is what dolma is, where it really comes from, and the many forms it takes.
Dolma comes from the Turkish verb dolmak, “to be filled”, so dolma simply means “something stuffed”. Strictly speaking, Turkish cooks use dolma for hollowed-out vegetables that are filled, such as peppers, courgettes and tomatoes, and sarma, “something wrapped”, for leaves rolled around a filling. In everyday speech, and outside Turkey, stuffed vine leaves are usually called dolma too. In Greece they are dolmades, in Armenia tolma, and in Iran dolmeh.
People around the Mediterranean and the Middle East have wrapped food in leaves for a very long time, and earlier Persian, Byzantine and Arab cooks all made stuffed vegetables. But dolma as we know it today took shape in the kitchens of the Ottoman Empire. In the palace kitchens of Topkapı in Istanbul, from the 15th century on, cooks developed whole families of stuffed dishes: vegetables and leaves filled with rice, pine nuts, currants and spices, or with minced lamb, served at the sultan’s table and at grand feasts.
As the empire stretched from the Balkans to the Middle East and the Caucasus, dolma went with it, and every region made it its own with local ingredients. That is why so many countries claim it today. Azerbaijan’s tradition of making and sharing dolma was added to UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage in 2017.
Greek dolmades are vine leaves filled with rice, herbs such as dill and mint, and sometimes minced meat. The meat version is often served warm with avgolemono, a sauce of egg and lemon. Across the Balkans, cabbage and vine leaf rolls (sarma) are a winter favourite.
In Armenia and Azerbaijan, dolma is a national favourite, made with minced lamb or beef and rice in vine or cabbage leaves, and served with garlicky yoghurt. Armenians also make a meat-free Lenten tolma filled with lentils, beans and chickpeas.
Iranian dolmeh are often filled with rice, split peas, herbs and sometimes meat, with a sweet-and-sour sauce of vinegar or lemon and sugar. Around the Gulf, stuffed vegetables and leaves are a dish for family gatherings and Ramadan evenings.
In Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, stuffed vine leaves are called warak enab or warak dawali. They are tightly rolled, cooked with plenty of lemon and served as part of a meze, or with lamb chops in the pot for a family meal.
The best-known dolma. Young vine leaves are rolled around a filling and simmered gently. In Turkey there are two main kinds: zeytinyağlı yaprak sarma, filled with rice, onion, pine nuts, currants, mint and cinnamon, cooked in olive oil and eaten cold; and etli yaprak sarma, with minced meat and rice, eaten warm with yoghurt.
The meat-free kind is sometimes called yalancı dolma, “liar’s dolma”, because it has no meat in it.
Where vine leaves are scarce or out of season, cabbage takes over. In Turkey’s Black Sea region, lahana sarması is made with cabbage leaves, rice, minced meat and sometimes corn. Cabbage rolls are popular all the way from the Balkans to Iran and Russia.
Peppers, courgettes, aubergines and tomatoes are hollowed out and filled with rice, herbs and often minced meat, then cooked gently in a tomato sauce. A mixed pan of stuffed vegetables is one of the great Turkish home-cooked meals.
Mussels are opened and filled with rice cooked with onion, pine nuts, currants and spices such as allspice and cinnamon, then steamed in their shells. Street sellers in Istanbul and Izmir sell them from trays, a few at a time, with a squeeze of lemon.
Some of the oldest dolmas use offal: mumbar dolması is lamb intestine filled with spiced rice and meat, and dalak dolması is stuffed spleen. They are traditional dishes in south-eastern Turkey and in old Istanbul taverns, where they are eaten with rakı.
The most refined dolmas of the Ottoman kitchen used fruit: apples or quinces hollowed out and filled with minced lamb, rice and spices, then cooked slowly in a sweet-and-sour sauce. Elma dolması (stuffed apples) and ayva dolması (stuffed quince) are still made in Turkey for special occasions.
For about 30 rolls, with a meat-free filling:
Soften the onions in the oil, add the pine nuts, then the rice, spices and currants, with a splash of water, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the herbs. Lay a leaf shiny side down, put a teaspoon of filling near the stem, fold in the sides and roll it up tightly. Line a pan with spare leaves, pack the rolls in tightly, pour over the lemon juice and enough hot water to just cover, and weigh them down with a plate. Simmer very gently for 40 to 50 minutes, until the rice is tender. Leave them to cool in the pan and serve at room temperature with lemon.
Dolma is not on the menu at Nosta right now, but the same meze tradition is: try the meze plate for two (€23.90) with tzatziki, ezme, aubergine salad and hummus, then Niko’s lamb skewers from the grill. See the meze on our menu.
