Dolma
Steaming pile of assorted dolma, in my father's kitchen in Tilburg, 2024.
Something I'd wanted to cook for some time now, when I mentioned it while writing about Turkish cuisine before. It remains a struggle to confidently slot a dish like this within the arbitrary confines of a national cuisine. But I based myself on a recipe by Middle Eats that explicitly calls this variation Iraqi. Supposedly, it is the tangy sauce made from pomegranate molasses, tamarind, and black limes that sets it apart.
My father preparing the filling, with our dolma vehicles gutted and laid out across the cutting board.
I'll touch on the filling and leave the vegetables and vine leaves up to your own imagination.
Combine minced parsley, dill, and onions in a large bowl. Wash basmati rice until it runs clear, then add it in as well. Add garlic, tamarind paste, pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, olive oil, sumac, salt, and baharat. I couldn't find any black limes on short notice in Tilburg, so instead I added some more of the tamarind paste. Neither did I add any meat mince, since dolma works perfectly fine with a vegetarian filling. Mix thoroughly and stuff it in your vegetables and fold it in the vine leaves.
I layered potato slices at the bottom of our pot (could have cut them thicker) for a "tahdig". Start with the onions and layer the remaining vegetables on top. Finish with the leaf rolls, because we don't want them to be squashed.
Steam on medium heat with a lid for fifteen minutes. Mix the sauce (stock, pomegranate, tamarind, olive oil, tomato paste, lemon juice) and pour it in until it reaches halfway. Boil and reduce to low. Let it simmer while covered for forty-five minutes to an hour. It took a bit longer before our rice was properly cooked, actually. Optionally remove the lid and allow some of the liquid to evaporate.
Perform a risky flip onto a platter and serve.