Greek Dolmades - Stuffed Vegan Grape Leaves
You, me, the sunset and Greek Dolmades.
Greek Dolmades or Dolmadakia. They are vegan, so full of flavor and have a herb infused rice filling that totally melts in your mouth. I love this food so much and it’s so suiting to eat Greek dolmades during summer time. Squeeze lots of lemon juice on top before eating them and just dig in. What I also love about Greek dolmades is that you can eat them both as a main dish or as a side dish. In Greece they usually serve a few dolmades as a meze to a drink (like ouzo) or as a side dish to other dishes. I love these dolmades so much that I usually just eat them as the main dish when making them.
What kind of rice should I pick?
You should use a “round” rice such as Carolina rice. Basmati rice is not the right rice to pick for instance.
When folding the grape leaves…
be sure you squeeze them and fold them tightly. Because otherwise the dolmades will open up while boiling them and that is not something we want.
How to fold a grape leave dolma
THIS RECIPE IS:
Vegan
Authentic Greek
Great to eat both warm, but preferably cold
Can be eaten as main dish or side dish
Satisfying
Full of flavor
Delicious
Soft and melts in your mouth
Greek Dolmades
INGREDIENTS:
400 g rice
2 smaller yellow or red onions
2 big garlic cloves
1 dl (0,4 cups) finely chopped parsley
1 dl (0,4 cups) finely chopped dill
1 dl (0,4 cups) chopped spearmint
4 + 4 dl (1,7 cups + 1,7 cups) water
a few tbsp + 3/4 dl olive oil
Lemon zest from 1 lemon
5 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and black pepper
350g grape leaves
HOW TO MAKE:
Heat up a pot and add approx 3 tbsp olive oil.
Fry the onion and garlic together for a few minutes until soft.
Add rice and 2 tbsp lemon juice. Stir and let it simmer for approx 10’ without the lid.
Set aside and let it rest for approx 10 minutes until it cools. When it has cooled, add the salt, pepper, parsley, dil and coriander, lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir everything together.
Smear out some olive oil at the bottom of a big pot and place some of the broken grape leaves in the bottom of the pot so it covers the whole bottom.
Fold the dolmades according to the instructions in the middle of this post. It’s important you fold them tightly because otherwise they will open up when cooking them.
Place all the dolmades in your pot, possibly in layers. Ripple over 3/4 dl olive oil and 3 tbsp of lemon juice. If you want to you can also add lemon juice wedges and place them in between the dolma in the pot.
Place a smaller plate, which isn’t bigger than the pot, on top of the dolmas. We do this so that the dolmas shall not open up when cooking them.
Pour oven 4 dl of water. Let it simmer for approx 45’ until the dolmas and the rice is completely soft.
Let them cool a bit before serving and then serve the dolmades with lemon juice on top.