Dolma is a very popular dish in Turkey. We probably use any vegetable that can be stuffed to make dolma. The most popular dolma dish is done with grape leaves. It has both vegetarian and meat versions. This kale dolma is not very popular all over Turkey but Blacksea region. My mother used to make kale dolmas for my father but I never liked them. She would make grape leaf version for me but she would add couple kale dolmas between grape leaves since kale was more nutritious than grape leaves. I actually started to like kale dolmas more when I grew up and developed more diverse taste. Kale’s bitterness is adding another dimension to dolma.There are many variations for the stuffing recipe, so this is my take. Feel free to try your own version by changing things out. For instance you can’t take out pepper paste if you can’t find this ingredient.These freeze well. When I find good kale, I end up making lots of kale dolmas and I freeze them and then heat it up.
We serve yoghurt on top of many dolmas, this one also goes very well with yoghurt.
Stuffed Kale Wrap Ingredients
3 bunch kale
Kale stuffing
300 gr. ground beef
1 cup rinsed rice short rice preferred
2 onions chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon pepper paste
half bunch parsley
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
salt pepper
Cooking water
2 cups water
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove chopped garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Stuffed Kale Wrap Recipe Instructions
In a large stock pot start boiling water, and add salt.
Add kale leaves and cook them 2 minutes one side and 2 minutes other side and add them to ice cold water to stop cooking.
While leaves are cooling down, bring all stuffing ingredients together. Mix them very well. You can use stand mixer to mix it well too
Cover bottom of a big stew pot with couple leaves to make sure stuffed kale leaves would not stick to the bottom.
Stuff leaves with the stuffing and add them to the pot next to each other.
Melt tomato paste to 2 cups of boiled warm water and add finely chopped garlic
Sprinkle salt on top of dolmas and add the water/tomato paste mix
Add more water if needed, make sure that water do not cover all dolmas to the top, water level should be low
Lower the heat as soon as water starts to boil, and simmer on a very low heat
Cook dolmas until rice is soft, around 50 minutes
Serve with yoghurt as a main entree
Serve it as a main entree with yoghurt at the side or on top of it
Serve with soup, salad and rice