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Cooked yarpaq dolması packed in a steel pot, small squares of soft, glossy grape leaves

One-Minute Dish · Azerbaijani

Yarpaq dolması

Grape leaves folded into small squares around beef, rice, onion and mint, then simmered. Mix, fold, simmer, serve.

By · Published

1 hr

total · 20 min hands-on

4

steps

4

plates, about 10 dolma each

Plan ahead

Night before: move the ground beef from freezer to fridge.

How it looks

Beef and onion coming out of a meat grinder into a steel bowl on a wooden board
01 · Beef and onion through the grinder
Ground beef, onion and spices in a steel bowl with washed short-grain rice piled on top
02 · Rice goes into the meat
Rinsed grape leaves in a steel bowl, an empty jar of grape leaves and a bowl of filling beside it
03 · Leaves rinsed, filling ready
A grape leaf flat on a wooden board with a spoonful of meat and rice filling in the middle
04 · A spoonful in the middle
Hands folding the sides of a grape leaf over the filling on a wooden board
05 · Bottom up, sides in
A row of small square dolma wrapped in grape leaves on a wooden board, a pot behind them
06 · Neat little squares
Dolma packed tightly in a steel pot, seam side down, covered with water
07 · Packed tight, water in
Cooked yarpaq dolması in the pot, the grape leaves soft and glossy
08 · Done: the rice inside is soft
Tap to keep your screen on while you cook.

Ingredients

Plan ahead · the night before

I grind beef with onion in bulk, portion it and freeze it. The night before, one portion goes into the fridge.

Filling

Leaves and pot

Steps

  1. Step 1: Mix

    Rinse the leaves to wash off the brine. Mix the beef, onion, washed rice, mint, salt and pepper by hand until it holds together.

    5 min

    Ground beef, onion and spices in a steel bowl with washed short-grain rice piled on top

  2. Step 2: Fold

    Lay a leaf shiny side down, put a spoonful of filling in the middle, fold the bottom up, fold in both sides, then roll it into a neat little square.

    15 min

    Hands folding the sides of a grape leaf over the filling on a wooden board

  3. Step 3: Simmer

    Pack the dolma tightly in a pot, seam side down. Press a plate on top, add water to just cover, and simmer gently. It’s done when the rice inside is soft.

    40 min

    Dolma packed tightly in a steel pot, seam side down, covered with water

  4. Step 4: Serve

    Serve warm, about ten per plate, with garlic yogurt on the side.

    Cooked yarpaq dolması in the pot, the grape leaves soft and glossy

Make it your way

  • Lamb

    Swap some of the beef for ground lamb.

  • Fresh leaves

    In early summer, blanch young vine leaves for a minute instead of using a jar.

  • Cabbage

    The same filling in cabbage leaves makes kələm dolması.

1 hr · 4 steps

See, that was easy.

The story behind it

Yarpaq means leaf, and dolma comes from the word for “to fill”. So yarpaq dolması is a filled leaf, which is exactly what it is. In Azerbaijan, dolma is on every table that matters, and in 2017 UNESCO added Azerbaijan’s dolma making and sharing tradition to its list of intangible cultural heritage.

Every family rolls it a little differently. We don’t roll long, thin cigars. We fold each leaf into a small square, the way I grew up eating it.

It only takes an hour because of the planning. I grind beef with onion in bulk, portion it and freeze it. The night before, one portion goes into the fridge, and a jar of leaves is always in the pantry.

A new dish every week

One dish and what to plan ahead for it, every week. Nothing else.