Last night, I made cabbage dolma with one of my English teacher friends in the village. I thought I'd document the process so I could post the recipe and share it with any cross-cultural culinary enthusiasts at home. The ingredients are simple, and it's a very popular dish in Azerbaijan. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 head of white cabbage
1/2 kilo ground mutton*
1 cup short grain rice (rinsed and uncooked)
3 medium onions chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro chopped
1 medium carrot peeled and shredded
1/2 can stewed tomatoes
1 small red bell pepper finely chopped**
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp ground red pepper***
1 tsp thyme
4 tsp salt
optional (for sauce): plain yogurt and fresh garlic to taste
Serves: 5-6 people.
*you can substitute ground beef, but don't get the super lean kind. If you use ground beef, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the meat mixture. You don't want the insides to be too tough.
**you can substitute a spicy pepper for the sweet bell pepper
***if you don't have these exact spices, you can substitute or leave them out. Azeris use whatever they have at home.
Directions
-Bring 2.5 liters of water and 2 tsp salt to boil in medium pot
-Pull off leaves from cabbage head. You'll want to use all the pieces bigger than your hand. Set aside the very center, you won't need it.
-Set a large tray or plate aside (you need a flat surface to put cabbage leaves once you remove them from the water). Place as many leaves as can fit in your pot in the boiling salt water. Gently stir and let sit for 3-4 minutes. Remove when the cabbage is malleable but not yet slimy--you want it rubbery enough to fold without snapping, but tough enough to wrap without splitting because it's too soft.
-Repeat with all of your cabbage leaves.
-In a medium mixing bowl, mix mutton, rice, onions, cilantro, carrot, stewed tomatoes, black pepper, red pepper, thyme, bell pepper, 2 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup boiling water. Mix with your hands!
-Cut stems out of cabbage leaves, and split bigger pieces in half. For the leaves about the same size as your hand, just shave down the stem with a knife, but don't cut the leaf in half. Set stems aside.
-Chop up the cut out stems into cubes (approx 1 cm a piece) and place at the bottom of a medium pot. You want to line the bottom so these stalks prevent the dolma from burning while cooking.
-Now you're ready to roll your dolmas. Take the cabbage leaf in one hand (make sure the curvature of the leaf is curling up) and place a large pinch of the meat mixture at the top of the leaf. Roll leaf over the meat mixture, making a tube. If the leaf it really big, you'll have to fold it up like a burrito. Ideally, you want to make a tube, and then using your finger, gently push in both ends. The cabbage should be flexible enough to tuck in.
-Place prepared dolmas in layers on top of the chopped cabbage stalks in the pan. Don't pack too tightly. They won't all be exactly the same size. Big dolmas, small dolmas, fat dolmas, skinny dolmas... they're all good!
-Once you've used all of the meat mixture, cover the dolmas with the extra cabbage leaves. It's a good idea to save the wonky pieces for this step.
-Pour the leftover liquid from the meat bowl plus 1/2 cup of water in the pot.
-Place a small plate upside down over the cabbage leaves for a little bit of pressure.
-Remove from heat, and serve! Azeris like to eat dolma with a garlic yogurt mixture (see white stuff in the picture below). Just mix plain yogurt with crushed garlic and spoon over the top of your dolmas. Best served with bread and a salad--in Az, a salad consists of sliced vegetables, but you can get creative with all your leftover ingredients!
Nuş Olsun!
