Dolmades / Blor

Dolmades
The first dolmades I remember eating were canned ones as pre-dinner nibbles at my sister's Wellington flat - probably from the FourSquare down the road. I've only made these a few times (because I'm lazy when it comes to pre-dinner nibbles), but they seem pretty forgiving, esp if you choose a big enough grape leaf. Now, you can easily use fresh vine leaves from your or your neighbours house (most houses in our Italian/Greek settled neighbourhood have grapevines) but if it's Autumn or you just don't have a vine, then middle-eastern or generic 'ethnic' food wharehouses will happily sell you leaves - either flat in a vacum sealed pack or annoyingly rolled in jars. For these ones I had a jar.


To make these dolmades, I filled them with left-over fruit, nut and spice seasoned quinoa I had in the freezer (from the stuffed-tomatoes I made the other day). I thawed it out in the oven on a low shelf (while eggplant was grilling) and then just filled and rolled the leaves, stacked them into the steamer and cooked in the ricecooker.


To make the Dolmades / Blor
Spread a grape leaf out flat, smooth side down and veins uppermost. You will be left with small cigar-shaped parcels.


Either steam in rice cooker or do the following:
Use some leftover leaves to line the bottom of a medium sized saucepan - this helps prevent burning. Pack the dolmades carefully and closely into the saucepan in layers, then place a plate on top to cover as many of them as possible. Hold it down with a small weight - this will prevent it moving around while cooking and so coming undone.

Here is an alternative filling recipe from Arto der Haroutunian's 'Vegetarian Dishes From Across The Middle East'

Derevi Blor (grape leaves stuffed with onions and rice)
2/3 c olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
3/4 c long-grain rice, thoroughly washed in cold water and drained
1 1/2 T tomato puree
1 t salt
1/2 t chilli powder
1 t allspice
1/3 c chopped almonds
1 T chopped parsley

Sauce
1 T tomato puree
5-8 c water
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t salt
1/2 t chilli powder
3 T lemon juice

Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan over moderate heat. Add the sliced onions and green pepper and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring, occasionally, until the onions are soft but not brown.
Stir in the washed rice, tomato puree, salt, chilli powder and allspice and cook gently for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice sticking to the pan. remove the pan from the heat, stir in the chopped almonds and parsley, turn into a large bowl and leave to cool.

When you have wrapped them and put them on to cook, mix the ingredients for the sauce together and pour into the saucepan - they should cover the dolmades completely. If it doesn't, add a little more water. Bring the sauce to a boil, lower the heat and simmer 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Remove the pan from the heat, take off the weight and plate and remove dolmades to test if the leaf is tender. If so, allow to cool, remove from the saucepan and arrange on a plate.
Serve with bread and pickles. This recipe makes enough for 6-8 people.