Dolma

In a meat grinder, twist the meat with onions. Ideally, the lamb flesh should be chopped with a knife to tiny pieces (3-4 mm).

Add rice (I have round), spices, mix minced meat. It is more correct to add fresh herbs to the filling. Everything is individual here - you can add parsley, and onions, and basil, and cilantro, and mint (the last two are required). Approximate amount: 2-3 tablespoons of chopped greens (a mixture, not each type) or 1 teaspoon of dried herbs. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the filling. We beat off the minced meat, and leave it for 5-7 minutes to infuse and soak in flavors.

Boil fresh leaves. The cuttings should be cut first. Salted leaves should be washed in running water.

How to wrap dolma? Ideal dolmushki should be the same, small size. It is believed that the smaller the size of the dolma, the more skillful the hostess who prepared it. A grape leaf should fit in the palm of your hand. Leaves should not be large or very small. To make the dolmushki the same size, you need to spread an equal amount of minced meat on each sheet (a teaspoon of the filling on one sheet).

Minced meat should be put on the palm of your hand, and compacted, and only then spread the filling on a sheet. We wrap, see photo. You can make dolma more elongated (like a finger) or square (this is how my husband’s mother cooked dolma).

On the bottom of the dishes (pans / pots) lay out a few grape leaves, so as to cover the bottom. You can use another trick - put an inverted flat plate on the bottom of the pan. We do this so that the dolma does not burn. Then tightly lay out our envelopes in a circle.

We pour water. The water level should be slightly lower than the top layer of the dolma. Lay out the pieces of butter. We cover the dolmushki with a flat plate, and set the load (for example, a liter jar of water). This is done so that the envelopes do not unfold during cooking. Cooking 1 hour.

Serve dolma with a special sauce: mix katyk (kefir) with garlic and chopped herbs. The approximate amount of greens is 2 tablespoons of the "green mixture" per 300 ml of kefir. As for garlic, people in Azerbaijan do not like too peppery, spicy food. 2-3 cloves for 250-300 ml of sauce is enough.