Dolmades are Greek stuffed vine leaves: small, neat parcels of rice, onion and fresh herbs, slowly simmered in olive oil and lemon until tender. They are eaten at room temperature as meze, and they are one of the best make-ahead dishes in Greek cooking.

This is the vegetarian version, made with jarred vine leaves that are easy to find in supermarkets and Greek or Turkish shops.

Rolling them takes some time, but it is relaxing work, and one batch gives you about forty dolmades for the fridge.

What Is It?

Dolmades (ντολμάδες), or dolmadakia for the small ones, are vine leaves wrapped around a filling and cooked in a covered pot. The meatless version made with rice, herbs and olive oil is called yalantzi, which means ‘false’ or ‘pretend’, because it has no meat.

The filling uses uncooked or part-cooked rice that swells inside the leaf as it simmers. That is why the dolmades must be rolled snugly but not too tightly.

They are served cool or at room temperature with lemon and often a spoon of Greek yoghurt or tzatziki on the side.

A Little History

The word comes from the Turkish dolma, meaning ‘stuffed’ or ‘filled’. Stuffed vine leaves are shared across Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, the Levant and the Caucasus, and each region has its own versions.

In Greece, two main styles exist. Versions with minced meat and rice are usually served hot, often with avgolemono sauce. The meatless yalantzi dolmades are cooked in olive oil and eaten cold, which also made them a fixture during the Orthodox fasting periods.

Vine leaves are picked fresh in late spring when they are young and tender. The rest of the year, brined leaves from a jar do the job very well.