Meals
Dolma & Sarma
Stuffed Vegetables
Ingredients
The Vegetables
- 1½ kg Zucchini (insides scooped out)
- ½ kg Eggplant (insides scooped out)
- 5-6 Bell Peppers (seeds scooped out)
- Grape Leaves, Parboiled (re-boiled and drained)
The Stuffing
- 1 batch dolma stuffing
For Cooking
- 2 cups Water (add more if tomatoes in the stuffing aren't juicy)
- Salt - to taste
- 2 cloves Garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp Dried Mint Flakes
- 1 medium Lemon (juiced)
Preparation
In a bowl
- Prepare the stuffing.
Stuffing the vegetables
- Stuff the Zucchini with this stuffing almost to the top. (leave space for rice to expand)
- Stuff the Eggplants halfway through and squeeze the stuffing to feel the vegetable almost to the top.
- Stuff the Peppers almost to the top. (leave space for rice to expand)
- Use the remaining stuffing to stuff Grape Leaves; roll the leaves tucking the sides in.
In a pressure cooker
- Arrange the Grape Leaves in the middle of the cooker; then arrange the rest of the vegetables facing up around the grape leaves.
- Pour on top the juices from the stuffing bowl and the water.
- Season with a little salt.
Bring to a boil.
- Close the pressure cooker and cook until the cooker whistles.
- Lower the heat and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. (depends on your pressure cooker)
Let cool before opening the pressure cooker. (for about 20-30 minutes)
- Open the Pressure cooker, and add the Garlic, the Lemon Juice and Dry Mint Flakes on top.
- Cook on low heat for about 20 mins.
Serving
In our household Dolma and Sarma are always accompanied by hummus and ayran.
Sometimes, we only prepare Sarma and serve it with plain yogurt.
Tip
You can collect the sauce from the bottom of the pressure cooker and reduce it a bit to serve with the stuffed vegetables. This sauce lightens the stuffing especially if the stuffing is dry.
The stuffing can be dry if the tomatoes aren’t too juicy; also if the vegetables are tightly stuffed.
