- Dolmadakia (dolmades, solmadakia) is a specialty from Greek land. These are small cabbage rolls stuffed, depending on the region, with meat, rice, vegetables, fish or seafood, all seasoned with fresh herbs and lemon juice.
Recipe for the best Dolmades
about 60 grape leaves
1.5 cups of short grain rice
2 large red onions
100 ml lemon juice
5-6 small cloves of young garlic or 2-3 large cloves of garlic
1 bunch of parsley
2 large bunches peppermint (leaves only)
1/3 cup unfiltered olive oil (preferably our unfiltered Poli Kala Olive Oil)
1 tablespoon of wild oregano from Crete (this one) or 2 tablespoons of regular oregano
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of salt
2 lemons (one peeled, the other not) cut into slices
herb stems (parsley, dill, celery), optional How to make Dolmades?
- If you are using fresh grape leaves, add them to boiling water, cook for 2-3 minutes and strain. Prepare the stuffing. Grate the onions into a bowl using a coarse grater. Herbs (outside the stem for cutting, spread the grape leaf with the convex side up (i.e. you put the stuffing on the convex side, the smooth side remains outside). berries) and chop the garlic very finely, add to the bowl with the grated onion. Then add rice, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, nutmeg, pepper and salt. Mix everything very thoroughly. Arrange herb stems at the bottom of a wide pot, creating a kind of floor, then put lemon slices on them and spread 3-4 grape leaves on them so that they cover the bottom. Place a small teaspoon of stuffing on a plate or on the bottom of the leaf and roll it up like a dove, but not too tightly, so that the rice rising during cooking does not tear the leaf. Place the rolled cabbage roll on the bottom of the pot and repeat the above steps until all the filling is used, arranging the dolmades tightly next to each other. Pour the contents of the pot with cold water to a height of 5 cm above the surface of the cabbage rolls. Press the surface of the dolmades with an inverted plate, place something heavy on it (a baking dish filled with water, a heavy mortar, etc.) making sure that nothing sticks out above the water surface. Bring to a boil over medium heat and from the moment it boils, cook over low heat for 45 minutes, covered, checking every now and then to see if you need to add water. After 45 minutes, turn off the heat under the pot. Leave the dolmades covered until they cool completely. Serve warm or cold, but they taste best chilled on the second day.
