🍃 Iraqi dolma

8 servings · prep 1 h · cook 1 h 30

Ingredients

• 1 kg ground beef
• 500 g lamb fat (or 300 g ground lamb)
• 1 bunch celery, chopped
• 600 g short-grain rice, washed and soaked
• 1 medium onion chopped, 1 garlic clove
• Vegetables to stuff: peppers, courgettes, aubergines, onions
• Vine leaves
• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp tamarind, 1/2 tsp sugar
• Salt, black pepper

Method

1. Mix the soaked rice, meats, celery, onion, garlic, salt and pepper thoroughly.
2. Hollow the vegetables and fill them only TWO THIRDS full: the rice swells, and a packed filling bursts the vegetable.
3. Roll the vine leaves loosely around a little filling, for the same reason.
4. Pack everything tightly into a large pot, vegetables upright with the leaves wedged between them: that wedging is what stops them opening as they cook.
5. Stir the pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, tomato paste, tamarind and sugar into water, and pour in to half the height.
6. Boil hard for 5 min, then turn the heat right down and cook covered for about 1 h 15.
7. Turn off the heat and LET IT REST FOR AN HOUR before turning out. That rest is what firms up the dolma — served straight away it falls apart.

Adapted from Rose Star (YouTube)

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