Dolma; Turkish Cabbage Roll

Posted by Ummeeta Rabiu on January 31, 2019December 3, 2019

This recipe is very dear to me. Its my grandma’s favorite and I’m sharing it with you. There’s a lot of stages to this but I assure you its easier than it looks. It’s basically cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and ground beef with a combination of spices and vegetables served in a runny or thick tomato sauce. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients;

Whole Cabbage

Minced beef 1/2 kg

Cooked Rice 1 1/2 cups

Peas and Carrots 1/2 cup

Spices (I used black pepper, ginger powder, cajun spice, parsley, oregano, garlic powder, Sazon mix, bbq spice, sage, rosemary and some salt. But you can put whatever spice you want.)

Tomato paste 1 sachet ( I used Heinz)

2eggs

FOR TOMATO SAUCE;

½ cup diced onion
1 teaspoon thyme
2 teaspoons minced garlic
½- 1 canned tomato Sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1-2 teaspoon beef or chicken bouillon (optional)
1 -2 cups chicken broth

Method;

Clean Cabbage and peel off all dirty leaves.

Boil the cabbage for about 5minutes. Take it out and let it rest for another 5mins then peel off the leaves gently and keep aside. Trim the root of the leaves (I don’t know what they’re called).

In a bowl add minced beef, spices, peas and carrots, tomato paste, seasoning, eggs and mix. Add in the cooked rice and mix again.

Get a cabbage leaf and put a bit of the rice mixture and fold.

Arrange in pot tightly so that they fall apart.

Make a basic tomato sauce (I used leftover tomato stew) and dilute it with water. Pour over the rolls and cook on low heat. Cook for about 35-40’mins

TIPS;

Do not over cook the cabbage. boil it in a way that it peels off the ball and doesn’t break. when cooking the rolls, make sure to not overcook as they will fall apart if the cabbage melts. A total of 30mins is okay to cook them on the lowest heat.

You can store in an airtight container in the fridge for a day and freeze for a week.

Enjoy,

Ummeeta.