Vegetarian stuffed dried vegetables (Antep usulü zeytinyağlı kuru dolma)

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Dolma made from dried aubergines (eggplants), peppers and tomatoes are a signature dish of Southeastern Turkey.

The filling differs from town to town (and household to household), but the significance of the dish is the same. I don’t know anyone whose heart doesn’t skip a beat or two in excitement when they realise they’re about to eat dolma :)

Why make dolma from dried vegetables?

You may ask yourself, why make dolma from dried vegetables now that fresh ones are so abundant year round?

The answer is simple. It’s delicious.

The flavour is different, as is the texture. With a thinner casing, the filling comes more to the front than when using fresh vegetables.

Let me add this, too: It’s easier as well. The job of coring, deseeding and whatnot has already been done for you. All you need to do is reconstitute them, a job as easy as boiling them for a few minutes.

• Prefer dolma made from fresh vegetables? Try this recipe: Turkish dolma with meat

What makes dolma from Gaziantep so special?

Gaziantep and the surrounding regions are known for their abundant use of local ingredients like pomegranate molasses, red pepper paste and tomato paste. The quintessential ingredients of Southeastern Turkish (and much of Syrian) cuisine.

These dolmas can be made with a variety of fillings, with or without meat. This one’s a meat free version, based on dolmas I’ve eaten on travels to Gaziantep. You can find a recipe for the meat version here.

• Read more: Gaziantep: The city of gastronomy

A few tips for the home cook

I like using a combination of dried aubergines (eggplants) and red peppers, but you can use any combination of dried vegetables – or just one type, if you prefer.

The key is to get the amount of filling and liquid right. Luckily, dolmas are quite forgiving even in this department, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

If your dolmas come out a little dry or not fully cooked when they should’ve been done, just add some more liquid and leave them for a little longer.

For dolmas made from dried vegetables, you’ll need to press them more tightly in the pan than you would when making dolma from fresh vegetables. This helps keep the filling in place. It also means you don’t need to worry too much about which direction the opening of each dolma is facing.

You may also find that some of the dried vegetables have holes here and there, or that the bottom has fallen out or opened. Just make the best of it. The pressing down during cooking means all of the dolma will keep in place.

Where to get dried vegetables for making dolma

Unfortunately, dried vegetables for dolma aren’t that easy to come by everywhere in the world.

If you have a supplier where you live, I recommend trying it. Check online as well.

For everyone else, rest assured you can use the same filling for fresh vegetables. I’ve included a few tips for this in the notes. You can also look at this recipe for fresh vegetable dolma for reference.

Serving suggestions

Serve these dolma as a starter/appetizer, or as part of a meze spread. As they’re vegetarian, you can serve them warm or cold. Perfect for making ahead!

If serving as a main course, I’d keep them warm and serve with yoghurt or cacık and a generous fresh salad.

Other dolma recipes

This recipe is for a meatless dolma. For the meat version, see this recipe: Stuffed dried vegetables with meat (Antep usulü etli kuru dolma).

Recipe

Vegetarian stuffed dried vegetables (Antep usulü zeytinyağlı kuru dolma)

5 (1 rating).

Based on traditional recipes from Gaziantep.

Main Course, Meze

Türkiye

2 hours hrs

Yield: 40 dolmas

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Ingredients 

US | Metric

• ▢ 40 dried and cored vegetables, such as aubergines (eggplants), red peppers (sweet or hot) and courgettes (zucchinis)
• ▢ water
• ▢ Greek yoghurt, to serve

Tomato sauce

• ▢ 20 g tomato paste
• ▢ 200 ml boiling water

Vegetarian filling

• ▢ 90 ml olive oil, I use a mild extra virgin
• ▢ 2 large onions, finely chopped
• ▢ 6 garlic cloves, finhakket
• ▢ 100 g tomato paste
• ▢ 50 g Turkish sweet red pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası), or more tomato paste
• ▢ 160 g rice (short or medium grain), dried weight
• ▢ 160 g coarse bulgur (pilavlık), dried weight
• ▢ 160 g freekeh, or more rice/bulgur, dried weight
• ▢ 60 g pomegranate molasses
• ▢ 2 tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper)
• ▢ 2 tsp dried mint
• ▢ 2 tsp dried oregano
• ▢ 2 tsp sumac
• ▢ 1½ tsp salt
• ▢ ¾ tsp black pepper
• ▢ 240 g cooked chickpeas, from 1×400 g (14 oz) tin, rinsed and drained, or 100 g (½ cup), soaked and boiled
• ▢ 200 ml water, or as much as the mixture can take

How I make it 

1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add the dried vegetables and simmer until soft, 3–4 minutes. Drain. If substituting fresh vegetables: Cut the tops off the tomatoes and hollow them out. Cut the top off any small peppers and remove the seeds and pith. For larger bell peppers. halve them lengthwise and remove the seeds and pith, keeping the stalk.
2. Heat a thick bottomed frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onion in the olive oil, stirring regularly, until softened, but not coloured, 8–10 minutes or more.
3. Add the garlic and continue to fry, stirring constantly, for another minute. Add the tomato paste and red pepper paste and continue to fry, stirring constantly, until completely mixed, 1–2 minutes.
4. Take off the heat and mix with the rice, bulgur, freekeh, pomegranate molasses, pul biber, dried mint, dried oregano, sumac, salt and pepper. I use my hands for this. Add the water and mix again. Finally, carefully mix in the chickpeas.
5. Stuff the prepared vegetables with the filling, leaving a 1 ½–3 cm (½–1 in) on the top, so the rice and bulgur have space to expand into. The vegetarian filling needs more space to expand than the meat one. Continue until you run out of vegetables or stuffing, placing them neatly into a thick bottomed sauté pan as you go along. It's fine if some are slightly on top of each other, but the top layer should be fairly even. (If using fresh vegetables, see note below.)
6. Make the tomato sauce by mixing the tomato paste with boiling water. Pour approx. ¾ of the mixture all over the dolmas (use all of it for the vegetarian version). Cover with baking parchment and press gently down with something flat-ish. I use the base of a baking tin; a dinner flat plate is also good.
7. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down to low and put on a lid. Leave to simmer for about one hour, checking on it every once in a while and adding more of the tomato sauce or water if need be (this depends on how tight your lid is). Once done, take off the heat.
8. Serve the meat dolmas warm (but not boiling hot) with cold yoghurt. For vegetarian dolmas, cool completely before serving, though you can also enjoy them hot if you like – but always with cold yoghurt on the side.

Notes

If using fresh vegetables instead of dried, it can be hard to fit everything into a sauté pan. You can use two pans, or make half a portion. Fresh vegetables don’t need to be place as tightly together as the picture above, and should not be pressed. Another option is to place all of your fresh vegetable dolma in  a large oven tray, cover tightly and bake at 200°C (430°F) until completely soft, 40–50 minutes or more. You can also cross-reference this recipe for dolma with fresh vegetables:

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