Mains
Dolmades
Dolmades (pronounced dol-ma-thes) are a staple of the Greek and Cypriot cuisines. You can find them tinned in supermarkets on this side of the world, or you can head to your local Greek restaurant. But none compares to Yiayia’s. Growing up in Cyprus, Sunday was meat day and as she puts it, you needed “cash money” for the good cuts. While the boys went for steaks and chops, Yiayia preferred dishes like dolmades, making the most of mince. One of Yiayia’s secrets to making the tastiest dolmades or dolmathakia (baby dolmades), is to retrieve the younger, smaller grape vine leaves from her garden, which are not as tough as the bigger leaves. Aim to collect leaves that are about the size of your palm.
Main
Ingredients
- 250g lamb mince (beef mince also works
- as a substitute)
- 1 cup medium grain rice
- ½ a medium-sized brown onion, finely
- diced
- 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint
- leaves (or 1 teaspoon of dried mint)
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 60 medium-sized vine leaves (approx. 10-
- 15cm wide). If you can’t source these from
- your neighbourhood, you can buy them
- frozen or in jars from Mediterranean stores
Method
- Put the mince, rice, onion, mint, parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil in a large bowl. Season lightly with salt and pepper and mix with your hands until all of the ingredients are well combined
- Cut the stems off the vine leaves and wash them thoroughly. If using vine leaves from the store, they should be ready for use and skip step 3
- Put the vine leaves in boiling water and blanche for 1 and a half minutes until soft and khaki in colour
- To make the dolmades, lay a leaf vein-side up. Put about 1.5 teaspoons of mince mixture onto the centre of the leaf, about one third of the way up, and form into a horizontal log about 5cm long. Take the bottom right corner of the leaf and fold to the left until it hits the mince, repeat with the bottom left corner. Then take the bottom of the leaf anf wrap it over the log of mince and tightly roll together. Make sure that you pull the edges in as you roll up the leaf to make sure that it is a tight seal
- Stack the dolmades in a large pot and then put a drizzle of olive oil, a dash of lemon juice and salt over the dolmades. Cover with a plate making sure that the plate fits snug inside the pot and covers the dolmades, pushing them down
- Put enough water in the pot to just cover the plate, put a lid on the pot and cook over a medium high heat for 20-30 minutes
- After 20-30 minutes, take one dolmada out, cut it in half and test the rice to ensure it is cooked. When cooked, you will see the rice will become fluffy and the meat cooked through. If not yet cooked, ensure there is still a little water in the pot and test another dolmada in 5 minutes. If there's not enough water, add a bit of boiling water to the pot and lightly swirl it around to ensure there is some moisture in the dolmades
- Once every dolades is cooked, drain as much of the liquid out of the pot, but leave the plate on top of the dolames. Carefully flip the pot quickly upside down to get all the dolmades out and onto the plate. Be careful, there might be some liquid left
- Serve with an extra squeeze of lemon juice on top