Turkish dolma

Stuffed vegetables, the Turkish way.

Hi there,

I’m rarely as grateful for my earlier efforts as I am when I open the fridge door, peckish, and discover dolmas. Ready to be reheated, or eaten as they are, straight from the fridge.

Photo: Bahar Kitapcı.

Dolma can mean any range of stuffed or rolled vegetables, depending on where you are in the world. In Turkey, they distinguish stuffed (which is dolma) and rolled (which is sarma), though even here, dolma is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase. In other food cultures, it’s all dolma.

Every part of Turkey has its own version of stuffing, which can be either vegetarian or meaty. Generally, meaty versions are served warm, vegetarian ones cold.

The dolma itself can be made with any vegetable, fresh or dried – or even meat or fish!

I enjoy virtually any version, but these are particularly more-ish, even in winter. Meat adds a bunch of flavour, but I fire on all cylinders for the supporting flavours too. Tomato paste, pul biber (Aleppo pepper), garlic and more.

Most vegetables used for stuffing aren’t in season at the moment, but I find peppers are still fine to use at this time of year. The stuffing more than makes up for any sub-optimal intensity of flavour from your chosen vegetable(s), and adds a nice wintery warmth from allspice!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and I promise your future self will be very pleased with you when you open that fridge door, peckish for something to eat.

Vidar 🧿