Dolmas recipe from John Patakos (a tropical fish guy from Greece)

[LizStreithorst]

Mix 1 lb ground lamb (I'm forced to use beef and it's still good) with 2 minced onions, 4 T minced mint leaves (I use mint extract), 1 can diced tomatoes, 1/2c olive oil and 2 c raw rice. season with salt & garlic salt



Place a layer of pork neck bones in the bottom of a lg stock pot.



Open grape leaves in a bowl of water. If you can collect your own great for you. I buy the stuff in the jar. This will take close to 2 jars of grape leaves. Don't worry, it freezes well. Put the tough or torn leaves aside.



Transfer a leaf at a time to a plate. put in a dab of the meat/rice mixture and roll up folding ends in.



Cover the neck bones with a layer of tough or torn leaves. Put rolled leaves on top of the neck bones in layers tucking them in snuggly. Cover with any extra leaves. Add chicken stock to cover by 1/2". Add the juice of 1 lemon (I like to add the juice of 2)



Put an up-side-down plate over dolams. Weigh it down with a quart jar of water. Bring to boil and simmer for 1 1/2 hrs. Take a dolma from the center to check that the rice is done.



this is good either hot or cold or room temp.

 

[GotGarlic]

Sounds interesting. About how much is a dab?

I have pork stock in the freezer. I imagine I could use that instead of pork neck bones and chicken stock. I didn't know dolmas were cooked with pork.

Do you serve these with any kind of sauce? A friend of mine has relatives in Greece; he brought these for a party we had for the Olympics in Greece in 2000 and served them with a lemon-egg sauce. It was yummy.

 

[Dawgluver]

These sound really good, Liz! Thanks for the recipe!

 

[LizStreithorst]

Sounds interesting. About how much is a dab?

I have pork stock in the freezer. I imagine I could use that instead of pork neck bones and chicken stock. I didn't know dolmas were cooked with pork.

Do you serve these with any kind of sauce? A friend of mine has relatives in Greece; he brought these for a party we had for the Olympics in Greece in 2000 and served them with a lemon-egg sauce. It was yummy.

I have never used a sauce but the lemon-egg sauce has my mouth watering. Do you know how the lemon-egg sauce is made?

I didn't know about pork and dolmas either. Perhaps in the middle east they use lamb neck bones. The pork ones I buy are smoked. I like the slightly smokey flavor they add. In addition the meat from them is sweet and delicious.

I don't know how much a dab is. It depends on the size of the leaf, I guess. The rolling of that mountain of meat/rice mixture into all the small leaves is daunting. I always put in too much. You want it larger than a cigar but smaller that a stuffed cabbage leaf.

 

[GotGarlic]

I've never made the sauce, but this sounds like what I've had and Chowhound is a pretty reliable site: http://www.chowhound.com/recipes/dolmathes-with-avgolemono-10951

So it sounds like two or three tablespoons would be good, depending on the size of the leaf. Kind of like tamales

 

[LizStreithorst]

The recipe you posted calls for 1 T per leaf. The leaf they pictured looked big and tough. I wouldn't use that leaf.

I refuse to make Dolmas without smoked neck bones. I'm sure that smoked lamb neck bones would be better but I can't get that.

The recipe for the sauce sounds perfect. I adore lemon in any recipe and John Patako's recipe doesn't have enough lemon in it to satisfy me. Now I can add more lemon as a sauce. How wonderful!

 

[tenspeed]

I've never made the sauce, but this sounds like what I've had and Chowhound is a pretty reliable site: Dolmathes with Avgolemono Recipe - Chowhound

So it sounds like two or three tablespoons would be good, depending on the size of the leaf. Kind of like tamales

I haven't made these in at least 20 years, as it's fairly labor intensive. I looked up my recipe, and it calls for a heaping teaspoon of filling, depending on the size of the leaf. The chowhound lemon sauce recipe is identical to the one I used. I steamed the stuffed leaves in one of those expandable steamers that folds out like a fan. If you have tough leaves use them to line the bottom of the dutch oven you are steaming them in.

Just my preference, but lamb has a distinct taste. I once substituted ground beef for lamb in moussaka. Never again.

Edit - Also had a note that you use 1-1/2 lbs. meat for a 1 lb. jar of grape leaves.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I've made these before using fresh grape leaves from vines in my yard. I would say 2 teaspoons sounds about right. It's difficult to be accurate, though, since there's a lot of variance in the size of the leaves. I try to pick leaves that are the same size. If you use fresh, try to stick with "newer" leaves. The older ones can be tough. And make sure to look them over good. Spiders and other crawlies sometimes leave eggs on the underside.

 

[LizStreithorst]

I haven't made these in at least 20 years, as it's fairly labor intensive. I looked up my recipe, and it calls for a heaping teaspoon of filling, depending on the size of the leaf. The chowhound lemon sauce recipe is identical to the one I used. I steamed the stuffed leaves in one of those expandable steamers that folds out like a fan. If you have tough leaves use them to line the bottom of the dutch oven you are steaming them in.

Just my preference, but lamb has a distinct taste. I once substituted ground beef for lamb in moussaka. Never again.

Edit - Also had a note that you use 1-1/2 lbs. meat for a 1 lb. jar of grape leaves.

Sorry...I use two jars.

 

[taxlady]

I wonder if the rice would have to be precooked if I used brown rice. I love dolmas.

 

[LizStreithorst]

I made it with brown rice once. I made them as usual and just cooked them longer. It think that if you precooked the rice wouldn't be as infused with the flavor of the broth.