Dalma - how to cook it at home?

The eastern dish, according to the method of preparation similar to cabbage rolls, is dalma. How to cook such a dish? It is the leaves of grapes with meat or vegetable stuffing with rice. There are also lean and vegetarian types of dalma. Make a home is a snack is easy, but if you want the dish to be authentic, you need to take into account the features that it has in different countries.

Preparation of dalma from different peoples

In Georgia, this dish is made spicy and spicy, adding a lot of seasonings, such as red pepper, celery, garlic, parsley, coriander, tarragon. In Armenia there is a much more delicate dalma. It can be prepared from low-fat meat with thyme, marjoram, mint. The postal option suggests a stuffing of eggplant, tomato and Bulgarian pepper with rice and herbs. In Azerbaijan, the dalma is also made with fish filling. Greece is famous for the recipe of a vegetarian dalma, it is served with a lemon and olive oil sauce, and is chilled.

Selection of grape leaves

If you take young, you will get a more gentle dalma. How to prepare leaves before stuffing? Fresh must be lowered into boiling water for a couple of minutes, then remove large veins. Salted leaves placed in hot water for soaking. Wrap the shiny side inward. Cook the dalma in a saucepan, laying fruit (quince, apples), dried fruits (dried apricots, dried peaches), onions between rows. Serve with sauce based on fermented milk products.

Dalma. How to cook it according to the classic recipe?

Chop four hundred grams of meat in a combine or with a very sharp knife. Remove streaks and films. Add one hundred grams of fat. Two hundred grams of onion, sliced in small cubes, fry in a pan with melted butter (it can be replaced with olvikovym) to transparency. Then add turmeric, ground cumin and a teaspoon of black pepper. If desired, you can throw still fresh mint and dried coriander. After mixing, put the meat on the frying pan and simmer on a very slow fire, making sure that it does not collect lumps. Then put to the stuffing a hundred grams of round rice, boiled to half-cooked. In this case, the croup in the dalm will excrete the starch - this will result in the absorption of juices that are released from meat and onions. Thus, the desired texture and humidity of the dish will be achieved. On the prepared grape leaves, spread the stuffing, roll into a roll. Portions should be small - the size of a thumb. If you follow this rule, then the dish will be evenly juicy. Place in a cauldron or stew pan where dalma should be cooked. How to cook it after that? Cover with a plate, pour the broth (it is convenient to cook from the bones remaining from the meat). From above place the load and place the cauldron on the middle fire. Take care that the broth does not boil. If the grape leaves from which the dalma is prepared are fresh, it takes an hour and a half to cook, and if they are sour, then not more than one hour. After removing from the fire, the dish should cool and brew. Dalma will gradually absorb a part of the broth. Serve with lavash and sauce from unsweetened yogurt (with red hot pepper, garlic and mint).