Dolmades or Greek stuffed grape leaves

This easy recipe for dolmades or stuffed grape leaves is easy to make and just takes a bit of time for the cooking. Also the rolling of the fresh leaves can be a bit of a pain but if you want to make greek dolmades, there is no way around it. They’re also perfect as part of a mezze platter.

Greek dolmades

​While I love going to Greece, I never really loved the Greek stuffed grape leaves. Tom was always the one who ordered them everywhere we went. I just couldn’t bother and far preferred things like pantzarosalata or a good Greek salad. Until I made them myself. 

The funny part is that initially this was part of a Daring Kitchen challenge years ago. I seriously thought it was a conspiracy at the time (it wasn’t of course) but while I was reluctant to try making them myself I felt I had to do it, in order to get over my dislike of the dish.

Finding the grape leaves

Now the first thing I had to do was to find the grape leaves. I had imagined that to be quite difficult but as it turned out you can buy them in the grocery store. Go figure. If your supermarket has a Turkish section, there is a good chance you’ll find them there. Alternatively go to the Turkish or Greek supermarket. Or order them online. The hard part was getting the grape leaves out of the jar in one piece. They’re rolled pretty tightly so getting them out was a bit of a challenge. And then the next challenge was to unroll them without breaking them into a lot of pieces. You do need to make sure to rinse the leaves as they might be kept in some kind of acidic mixture inside the pot. 

You’re likely to find leaves in various sizes in the pot, so use the large grape leaves. That will make rolling so much easier. You’ll need roughly 10 leaves for this recipe. Make sure to remove the stem end of the leaves. That is too tough and doesn’t make it very easy to eat.

Making the filling

Now traditionally the dolmades are usually filled with a combination of ground meat and rice. For this version I went with just the ground beef but you can definitely add some cooked rice if you like. I’ll give some other optional ingredients below. Other than the ground meat you need onion, parsley, garlic, oregano, tomato paste, paprika powder and chili flakes. And pepper and salt. You mix it all together in a large bowl and make small rolls of the meat. If you do decide to add rice you can add some cooked rice to the meat and mix it all together. I did sauté onions before adding to the ground beef as the onions will not cook properly when you add them to the grape leaves. You can – optionally – also precook the beef.

Now place a small bit of the filling in the middle of a grape leave (make sure the shiny side is on the outside) and roll it up as tightly as you can. Place it inside a large pot (seam side down) and continue until you’ve done all 10 of the leaves. Or make more if you have more filling leftover.

Cooking the dolmades

Now the cooking process takes longer than you think. It’s important to make sure the dolmades are at the bottom of the pot preferably tightly squeezed against one another. Transfer to a smaller pan if the pan is too big. Now add enough hot water so the dolmades ae submerged and add an inverted plate on top so they stay under. A flat surface is easiest so you’re sure they are all under enough water. If you need to make a second layer make sure you add enough extra water and a second plate if needed.

They will need about 25 minutes for the beef to cook and the grape leaves to soften and become easy to eat. 

Once cooked take them out with a slotted spoon. Best to test one before you take all of them out. Alternatively you can also add them to a baking dish and finish them in the oven (still with the water though!) Once taken out drain them on a few paper towels.

​What did I think of the dolmades

As a not-lover of dolmades I found it quite interesting that this dolmades recipe was actually quite tasty. I think looking back that I probably tried one where the leave hadn’t cooked long enough. And the leaves do need the time to soften enough. If you take them out too soon they will be tough. I guess I must have been the unlucky one to get a grape leave that wasn’t cooked properly. Anyway, I actually liked these dolmades and served with some delicious tzatziki they were actually perfect. 

​Serve with

I love eating the dolmades with some delicious tzatziki. That is easy to make with some garlic, cucumber, plain yogurt and fresh dill. Just grate the cucumber and let it drain (or squeeze out the moisture) and add to the yogurt with salt, pepper, fresh dill, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and grated garlic. A drizzle of olive oil or some lemon zest is also delicious. 

Serve the dolmades at room temperature with the tzatziki.

Additions and variations

Now you can fill the grape leaves with just about anything you like. You can add fresh herbs to the mix or mix a rice mixture instead of the meat mixture I’ve used here. You can also cook the dolmades in chicken broth for some added flavor. Again also here make sure to press the dolmades to the bottom of the pan. 

The dolmades are traditionally served with avgolemono sauce (or egg-lemon sauce) but I have’t tried that before.

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Dolmades

Prep time 15 minutes mins

Cooking time 25 minutes mins

Total time 40 minutes mins

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Servings4 porties

Ingredients

• ▢ 250 gr minced meat
• ▢ 1 jar grape leaves
• ▢ 1 onion finely chopped
• ▢ 10 gr parsley fresh chopped
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic mashed
• ▢ 1 tsp oregano
• ▢ 1 tsp tomato puree
• ▢ ½ tsp paprika powder
• ▢ ½ tsp chili flakes
• ▢ Pepper and salt

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How to make the dolmades

1. Remove the vine leaves from the jar and drain briefly. You need 10 or so so pick the prettiest ones. Preferably not too small, that will make rolling easier.
2. Heat a frying pan and gently fry the onions until tender. Add the garlic and fry the minced meat until loose. Season with the oregano, fresh parsley, paprika, chili flakes, tomato paste, pepper and salt.
3. Lay a vine leaf flat and put a small scoop of minced meat in the center. Fold both sides in and then roll up as tightly as possible.
4. Place the dolmades in a small pan tightly together.
5. Add water to the pan until just submerged and cover the dolmades with a heavy saucer so they don’t float and fall apart.
6. Then cook for about 25 minutes or so until the vine leaves are tender.
7. Serve with tzatziki if desired

Author recipeAuthor: Simone

Nutrition Information per portion:

Calories: 176kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 49mg | Potassium: 251mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 491IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 2mg

Disclaimer:

The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.

Categories:

• Appetizers
• Greek
• Moderate
• Side dish
• Snacks
• Travel
• Travel recipes