How to prepare cabbage rolls in Armenia

As you know, Armenian cuisine is distinguished for its originality. For several millennia, Armenian chefs created delicious dishes, which were then borrowed from them by Georgian and Azerbaijani. In order to clarify a few nuances, let us turn to the history of the Armenian people.

This ancient nation was repeatedly subjected to conquest, its territory was divided for many centuries into the western and eastern parts. From the 17th to early 19th centuries. Armenia was under Turkish and Persian yoke, however the people managed to preserve their individuality, religion and culture, including Armenian cuisine. Naturally, most of the truly Armenian dishes went to Turks and Persians, and one of them is Armenian cabbage rolls - dolma. And for some reason the Turks began to assert that only they know how to make delicious cabbage rolls. Agree that this ridiculous statement can not correspond to reality, because there are references to how to prepare delicious cabbage rolls in the ancient writings of the Armenian people.

Unlike many nations, Armenians cook their cabbage rolls from mutton and wrap the meat not in cabbage, but in grape leaves. This tradition was inherited from them by the Greeks and Georgians. It is noteworthy that the Armenian dumplings were called "dolma" from the Turkish language, and it is translated as "stuffed".

How are Armenian cabbage rolls cooked ? For the filling you will need lamb with bones, about 600 grams, a glass of rice, preferably round, 2 heads of onions, a bunch of greens (dill, basil, mint and coriander), salt and pepper to taste. And, of course, grape leaves that can be fresh or salty.

Stuffed cabbage, which does not take a long time to cook, will not only please your family and friends in a quiet home environment, but also perfectly fit the festive table. The recipe is fairly simple, however it requires certain skills and a little patience. In this article, we will tell you about how Armenian cabbage rolls are made. So, you need to cook the rice until half cooked or simply soaked with warm water and leave for 40 minutes. Then peel the onion from the peel, rinse and finely-finely chop. Do the same with greens - rinse, dry, and grind.

Before you prepare cabbage rolls further, you need to do lamb. The first thing to do is to separate the meat from the bones and pass it through the meat grinder. Then take a small basin, mix the meat, rice, greens and onions. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Everything, forcemeat is ready. Some Armenian women add minced fresh tomatoes or tomato paste to the stuffing. They say that it gives the flavor to the dish.

Now you need to move on to the next step - processing the grape leaves. They need to be doused with boiling water so that they soften a bit. After this, cut the stems and divide the leaves into 2 unequal parts. Large will serve as envelopes for stuffing mincemeat, and the latter will be needed later.

How to prepare cabbage rolls, or rather, how to wrap the filling in the leaves? Very simple, like in envelopes. Remember about one nuance - the leaves are laid with the wrong side inward, while the glossy remains outside. So the dish turns out much more beautiful.

And now, attention, the secret of real Armenian women! Remember the bones that you have separated from the meat? Put them on the bottom of the pan, and top with the grape leaves. Lay the stuffed cabbage and pour a little water into the pan, so that it barely covers the cabbage rolls. Tightly cover all this with an inverted plate and put on the smallest fire. Dolma does not need to get in the way.

When the dish is ready, it can be served on the table. On stuffed cabbage you need to pour a little sauce, which was formed during cooking. The dish is necessarily hot, and top is topped with a sauce of Armenian matsun or kefir mixed with garlic. The Armenian lavash will also suit the dish perfectly.

As you can see, the dolma is noticeably different from the cabbage leaves, which are prepared with cabbage leaves. If you do not remember the recipe, remember: it is taken out cabbage with large leaves, 250 gr. Pork and beef, tomatoes, 2 onions, half a glass of rice, greens, salt, pepper to taste. You can add 2-3 cloves of garlic. Then we prepare everything as an Armenian dolma, only we wrap minced meat not in grape, but in cabbage leaves, which until about 5 minutes have been in boiling water and become soft.

Here's how to prepare cabbage rolls! Bon Appetit!