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Iraqi Dolma

Name: Iraqi Dolma
Total time: 150 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Iraq
Ingredients: 15 Grape Leaves; 3 Onion; 2 Eggplant; 4 Green Bell Pepper; 1 cup Raw rice; 300g Ground Beef; 2 tbsp Tomato paste; 1 tbsp Tamarind paste; 2 tbsp Lemon juice; 1 bunch Parsley; 2 tsp Salt; A pinch Black Pepper; 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Main Dish

⏱ 150 min

👥 Serves 6

Difficulty ⭐⭐⭐

Grape leaves, onions, eggplant, and peppers stuffed with rice and meat and simmered sweet-sour with tamarind.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Iraqi dolma is distinctive for stuffing not only grape leaves but many vegetables — onions, eggplant, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes — with rice and ground meat, then simmering them sweet and sour with tamarind or lemon in a big pot. Made on Fridays and holidays, the big pot is boldly flipped onto a platter to serve.

🌆 Where it's eaten: At Friday lunch in an Iraqi home, the big pot is flipped onto a platter to reveal colorful stuffed vegetables, and the family cheers.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 6)

Grape Leaves 15
Onion 3
Eggplant 2
Green Bell Pepper 4
Raw rice 1 cup
Ground Beef 300g
Tomato paste 2 tbsp
Tamarind paste 1 tbsp
Lemon juice 2 tbsp
Parsley 1 bunch
Salt 2 tsp
Black Pepper A pinch
Vegetable Oil 3 tbsp

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Mix the rice, ground beef, half the tomato paste, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and oil for the stuffing.
Slit the onions and separate into layers, then blanch briefly. Hollow out the eggplant and peppers.
Roll the stuffing in grape leaves and stuff the onions, eggplant, and peppers.
Pack the vegetables snugly in a pot and lay the grape leaf rolls on top.
Pour in water mixed with the tamarind, lemon juice, and remaining tomato paste to just cover, weigh down, and simmer on low for 1 1/2 hours.
Flip onto a big platter.

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