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Kelem dolmasi

Kelem dolmasi

A weekend Azerbaijan dinner made with lamb. Ready in about 1 hour 15 minutes. Difficulty: more effort.

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Ingredients

How many people?

− 3 people +

Changed from 4 to 3 people · Back to 4

Main ingredient

  • 13 oz ground lamb Shopping tip: Ground lamb (UK: lamb mince).

Fresh & other

  • 1 cabbage
  • 6 oz onions
  • 1 ½ tbsp cilantro Shopping tip: Fresh cilantro (UK: coriander). Use the leaves and soft stems.
  • 1 ½ oz rice Shopping tip: Long-grain white rice.
  • 1 ½ oz chickpeas
  • 2 ¼ oz lamb fat
  • 2 ¼ tsp tomato paste Shopping tip: Tomato paste (UK: tomato purée), in a small can or tube.
  • 2 ½ tbsp water
Spices & seasonings (5): salt, pepper, turmeric, cinnamon, dill
  • Pinch salt
  • Pinch pepper
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 ½ tbsp dill Shopping tip: Fresh dill.

How to make it

Steps in our own plain words.

  1. Boil the rice for eight minutes.

  2. While that cooks, peel and finely chop the onion.

  3. Chop the herbs.

  4. The recipe didn't say what to do with the chickpeas, beyond soaking them overnight and rinsing them.

  5. Chickpeas roughly chopped.

  6. Mince the lamb, mince it?, melt it?

  7. Does lamb fat even melt?

  8. Minced lamb plus its good friend, minced fat, ew.

  9. The ingredients for the turmeric, chickpeas, cilantro and dolma stuffing include onion.

  10. Anyway, now get your hands in all that slimy raw meat.

  11. Mix in fat, chopped herbs, rice, chickpeas, spices and the onion.

  12. Add a little salt plus pepper for good measure.

  13. Mix fully with your hands till the stuffing looks something like this.

  14. Fill the biggest pot you own with salted water.

  15. Bring it to a boil on high heat.

  16. Pull your outer leaves off of the cabbage and drop the rest of it, whole, in the water.

  17. Let it boil for three or four min, turning it if your water level isn't high enough to completely cover it.

  18. Your reason you are doing is because it's difficult.

  19. Do it to get whole cabbage leaves off of American cabbage.

  20. Blanching them for some min makes it so they come right off without tearing.

  21. Take the cabbage out of the water.

  22. Let it cool for a min or two so you don't burn fingers.

  23. Pull your leaves off your cabbage, cutting them at your base if you have.

  24. Do it to do so to loosen them, try.

  25. Do it to get them off in one piece.

  26. If your inner leaves are still crispy, return your cabbage to your boiling water for another three or four min.

  27. Repeat till all of the useable leaves are free.

  28. Blanched cabbage leaves.

  29. Put the leaves on a cutting board.

  30. Cut out the tough stalks.

  31. Cut the largest leaves in half.

  32. Remove the tough inner stalk.

  33. Set aside.

  34. Cut larger leaves in two.

  35. Put a heaping tablespoon of your filling in the middle of every leaf, making a short cylinder shape.

  36. Fold the ends over the filling.

  37. Roll tightly.

  38. This isn't much of a cylinder, but you get your idea.

  39. Fold the edges over.

  40. Roll, as if you were making a small burrito.

  41. Finished dolma should look of like this, only without your hole in the middle.

  42. Put all of your discarded cabbage leaves, stalks etc.

  43. Into the bottom of a big pot.

  44. What you're going to be doing is steaming your dolma, with the discarded cabbage bits forming the base of your steamer.

  45. Place your dolma on the bed of cabbage leaves.

  46. These dolma are resting over the top of discarded cabbage leaves.

  47. Add water to the big pot up to around the top of the discarded leaves.

  48. Don't cover the dolma.

  49. Your dolma needs.

  50. Do it to be weighted down it doesn't unwrap during cooking.

  51. You could too use a dessert plate using something heavy over the top of it, but would need to be oven-safe one.

  52. Your dolma need.

  53. Do it to be weighted down cooking so they don't unwrap, improvise.

  54. Bring the water to a boil.

  55. Simmer for 25 min.You might have to use ears to figure out if your water is actually boiling.

  56. I couldn't see what was.

  57. Do it in my pot after weighted it down.

  58. While that cooks, make a simple tomato sauce out of your tomato paste and water.

  59. Heat it up for some minutes over a medium flame.

  60. After your dolma have been cooking for 25 min, pour the sauce over them.

On the side: Green salad

A side we added to round out the meal. It is not part of the original recipe.

How to make it (10 min)
  1. Rinse the salad greens. Slice the cucumber.
  2. Put it all in a bowl and toss with the dressing just before eating.

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Recipe from TheMealDB, adapted from the original. Steps rewritten in our own words. Times are estimates.