Armenian Summer Dolma with pepper, eggplant, cabbage and tomato |
This national dish of Armenian cuisine needs grape leaves, minced beef meat, rice,
onion, basil and other spices. You must put one kilo minced beef in a bowl, then you add one cup of washed
rice and minced onion. As you mix them together also add a tablespoon of tomato
paste, a tablespoon of dry basil and savory, 150 grams butter, black pepper and
salt. Add half a cup of warmish water and start to knead the stuff either with
spoon or hands for 10 minutes. Once the kneaded stuffing of dolma is ready,
take a grape leave put a tablespoon of the stuffing on it and roll it. After
rolling the grape leave dolmas put them in a saucepan, add a tablespoon of
vegetable oil and some water to cover it and cook for 20 minutes. You can prepare the same with cabbage leaves.
Summer dolma is made of stuffed eggplants, pepper, tomatoes. Shake Balekjian shows how to make summer
Dolma. Armenians like to prepare summer
dolma.
“Pasuts” dolma, as it is served as vegetarian dish for fasting does
not use any kind of meat. Instead it
uses beans, peas, rice, lots of other spices cooked in oil and stuffed in sour
cabbage. “Pasuts” dolma is usually quite
big in size, and one would be enough for normal portion.
“Sut” dolma is made of rice, oil and spices. Since it is stuffed in grape leaves, it looks
like real grape leave dolma, but there is no meat; that is why it is called
“fake”. It is very tasty, and even
though takes long time to prepare, one eats it really quickly, like sun-flower
seeds J
Real grape leave dolma is usually
served with matsoun – Armenian
national sour yoghurt and garlic.
Dolma is a very popular
traditional Armenian dish usually prepared for festive tables such as New Year
or just for special guests. In different regions of Armenia people cook dolma
with specific change of ingredients, like Ashtarak and Echmiatsin dolma are
made of lamb. In Ashtarak they often make dolma by stuffing apple and quince.
Dolma has a ritual significance
in Armenian culture. Last year, for the first time there was even organized
Pan-Armenian Festival of Dolma in Sardarapat Memorial, where 22 cooks from Yerevan and regions presented different Armenian recipes of
dolma. This year Armenian Dolma Festival will
take place again July 11 in Sardarapat, the purpose of which is to make
traditional Armenian dishes popular and showcase the cultural values of the
Armenian cuisine. 20 pavilions will be serving Armenian dolma. The Festival had quite good reactions and
results, so the organizers decided to make Pan-Armenian Dolma Festival every
year.
Oh, delicious :) I'd say welcome to Armenia to participate the festival.
ReplyDeleteThe most delicious Armenian dish! I had dolma at dinner today.
ReplyDeleteWow armenian foods are really great! I am craving right now, how I wish I could taste this recipe, thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteZero Dramas
I would love to add the information in our blog :)
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