Kelem dolmasi

Start cooking opens one step at a time with read-aloud and hands-free voice control — “next”, “repeat”, “how much salt”, “timer 10 minutes”.

1. 1First boil the rice for eight minutes. In the meantime, peel and finely chop the onion. After that, chop the herbs.
2. 2The recipe didn't really say what to do with the chickpeas (also known of course as garbanzo beans), beyond soaking them overnight and rinsing them.
3. 3I used canned chickpeas, since I've never actually seen them dried. I decided to chop/mash them slightly so they would better incorporate into the filling.
4. 4Chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) roughly chopped.
5. 5Now mince the lamb (I used my mini food processor). Here's where I ran into another problem: what to do with the lamb fat this recipe calls for? Mince it? Melt it? Does lamb fat even melt?
6. 6I decided to mince mine. Thankfully, my husband doesn't actually read this blog because he'd be horrified if he knew I put fat in the dolma on purpose.
7. 7Minced lamb and its good friend, minced fat. Ew.
8. 8The ingredients for the dolma stuffing include onion, cilantro, chickpeas and turmeric.
9. 9Anyway, now get your hands into all that slimy raw meat and mix in the onion, spices, chickpeas, rice, chopped herbs and fat. Add a little salt and pepper for good measure.
10. 10In fact, based on my results I would say to err on the side of a little extra salt and pepper.
11. 11Mix until combined with your hands until the stuffing looks something like this.
12. 12Fill the biggest saucepan you own with salted water and turn up the heat until it boils over high heat. Now pull the outer leaves off of the cabbage (save them) and drop the rest of it, whole, into the water.
13. 13Let it boil for three or four minutes, turning it if the water level isn't quite high enough to completely cover it.
14. 14The reason you are doing this is because it's difficult to get whole cabbage leaves off of an American cabbage.
15. 15The cabbages you typically buy in our supermarkets come in very tight round balls, and because the leaves are crispy they will snap and crack when you try to pull them off in an un-blanched state.
16. 16Blanching them for a few minutes makes it so they will come right off without tearing.
17. 17Now gently take the cabbage out of the water (but keep the water boiling) and let it cool for a minute or two so you don't burn your fingers.
18. 18Carefully pull the leaves off the cabbage, cutting them at the base if you have to do so to loosen them. Try to get them off in one piece.
19. 19If the inner leaves are still crispy, return the cabbage to the boiling water for another three or four minutes. Repeat until all of the useable leaves are free.
20. 20Blanched cabbage leaves.
21. 21Now put the leaves on a cutting board and cut out the tough stalks (save them). Cut the largest leaves in half.
22. 22Remove the tough inner stalk and keep to one side. Cut larger leaves in two.
23. 23Put a heaping tablespoon of the filling in the middle of each leaf, making a short cylinder shape. Fold the ends over the filling, then roll tightly (as if you are making a tiny burrito).
24. 24This is not much of a cylinder, but you get the idea.
25. 25Fold the edges over...
26. 26Then roll, as if you were making a really small burrito.
27. 27Your finished dolma should look kind of like this, only without the hole in the middle.
28. 28Put all of the discarded cabbage leaves, stalks etc. into the bottom of a stockpot. I know, this seems a little strange.
29. 29What you're basically going to be doing is steaming the dolma, with the discarded cabbage pieces forming the base of your steamer. Gently put the dolma on the bed of cabbage leaves.
30. 30These dolma are resting on top of discarded cabbage leaves.
31. 31Add water to the stockpot up to about the top of the discarded leaves. Don't cover the dolma.
32. 32Now here's where you have to get a bit creative. The dolma needs to be weighted down so it doesn't unwrap during cooking. I used a metal pie pan, and then I put my mortar on top of it.
33. 33You could also use a dessert plate with something heavy on top of it, but it would need to be an oven-safe one.
34. 34The dolma need to be weighted down during cooking so they don't unwrap. Just improvise.
35. 35Bring the water to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes.You might have to use your ears to figure out if the water is actually boiling; I personally couldn't see what was in my pot after I weighted it down.
36. 36In the meantime, make a simple tomato sauce out of the tomato paste and water. Heat it up for a few minutes over a medium flame.
37. 37After the dolma have been cooking for 25 minutes, pour the sauce over them and leave to cook for another five minutes.