Dolmades and I have known each other since I was a child. I just knew it by a different name. These little steamed parcels of meat, rice and herbs wrapped either in grapevine leaves, cabbage or spinach are a familiar feature in Mediterranean cuisine. Growing up in Benghazi, Libya, whose cuisine is influenced by Arab, Mediterranean and Italian food, one of my favourite local dishes was the abraak – rice, meat and herbs wrapped in vine, cabbage or spinach leaves. I would pop the whole thing in my mouth, chomping down on the springy texture of the leaf roll, savouring the sourness of the grape leaves, flavoured with parsley, the sweetness of the rice and mutton or beef laced with chilies and cumin. About 7 years later, we moved back to our hometown in Bangladesh and my mother continued cooking abraak, but only with spinach and cabbage leaves. I live in Crete, Greece now, and here, like in Libya, dolmades are one of the most common finger foods. Commonality notwithstanding, a good dolmades maker is still revered here, and the long process of making this dish has absolutely no shortcuts.
The Greeks simply love eating. Here, the well-known mezze, a platter of Greece’s favourite snacks often served with local alcohol, often includes dolmades. In the kitchens of local homes, it is quite normal to find a large pot with tiny rolls arranged at the base in concentric circles. When I first arrived here, I only ever ate dolmades in the mezze platter, along with local alcohol like ouzo though my favourite is raki, made with the grapes left in the residue after winemaking. These platters, much to my intrigue, always had vegetarian dolmades, stuffed with rice and some dill and other herbs. At first I thought they catered to the tourists, who often had different dietary preferences, but it turns out that these are called dolmades galantzi, or as the Turkish say, faux dolmades. The non-vegetarian version, stuffed with rice and beef or mutton is usually served with an avgolemono or Greek egg-lemon sauce. The heaviness of the egg sauce is balanced by the sourness of the lemon.
The making of dolmades stuffing is a lengthy process of mixing half cooked rice or uncooked ones, soaked in water for some time, with dill, mint, onions and perhaps pine nuts. The idea is that when cooked through, the only thing immediately visible when biting into dolmades is the cooked rice, with a splattering of herbs and maybe a glistening piece of onion. The medley of tastes is then more distinctly appreciated. Vine leaves are often blanched and their mid-vein chopped off to create the two-inch long stuffed rolls which are then steamed in a large pot. The making of dolmades is usually a communal or family affair. Women sit with huge bowls of the raw ingredients and roll dozens of dolmades, while using the time to gossip, share a laugh or swap stories.
A most familiar sight on the menus of any Greek restaurant or family dinner table, the dolmades are indeed well loved. For almost everyone, their favourite kind are always the ones made by their yiayia or grandmother. My friend Nikos likewise, who lives in Thessaloniki, swears his yiayia’s cabbage dolmades or lahanodolmades stuffed with minced beef or pork and cooked with an egg-lemon sauce, top the charts. Nikos’s yiayia rolls more dolmades in a minute than you can eat. She will first blanch the cabbage leaves before filling it up with meaty goodness and it is a common sight to see her surrounded by huge dishes full of blanched, rather limp-looking cabbage leaves waiting for their filing. The lahanodolmades are not eaten as an entrée, for the obvious reasons that the meat filling, topped with the avgolemono, lends them a richness more suited to a main course.
It is generally believed that the dolmades first appeared when Alexander besieged Thebes, in the southern parts. A sparse supply of meat prompted locals to chop the meat to fine pieces and roll it up with other condiments. Today,Thessaloniki which is the northern city, once part of Macedonia, home of Alexander, continues to serve excellent dolmades and some of the city’s best restaurants are in the Ano Poli or uptown area. Full of old-world charm, the area is speckled with Byzantine structures and Ottoman-era homes and a stroll through Ana Poli is highly recommended to get a true feel of the Greece’s second largest city. The food in Thessaloniki is influenced by Macedonian cuisine and that of Asia Minor, which is thought to have been another popular route of entry for the dolmades. Here, it is easy to find a restaurant that serves a mezze with dolmades so good that might many might just forget to order a main course.
The mezze platter is often complimentary with drinks in many Greek tavernas, which are restaurants serving local food, as they are usually meant to be an accompaniment to the drinks. An average platter usually consists of olives, fried zucchinis or aubergines, feta with olive oil, an assortment of fritters, and depending on the taverna, any amount of cheese pies and cured meats. There is always a side of tzatziki, the famous dip made with yoghurt, garlic and assorted herbs and an ideal way to savour the dolmades is to dip it in the tzatziki before biting in.
The classic Greek dolmades are now preserved in brine water and sold world over in tin cans and one can choose to eat them hot or cold. It is not a very recommended way of trying them but for those who have never tasted it, the grape leaf flavour in the cans come out reasonably well. I have come to appreciate the versatility of cold dolmades on a hot day and piping hot ones in the winter. In Crete, I came across George and Georgia’s restaurant in Panormos, a sleepy, seaside town with picture perfect villas tucked into its winding, cobbled streets. The dolmades they serve are so far one of the best I have had in any restaurant in Greece, as they felt distinctly home made.
In Athens and its peripheral towns like Elefsina or even on the Peloponnese island, the best way to choose a good café is to head to ones closest to major archaeological sites. In a bid to out-do one another, they usually serve the best food. A mezze with drinks is the best way to judge their food quality and they make sure it leaves a lasting impression.
The dolmades continue to leave me mesmerized at the variation of tastes experienced in that tiny little roll and as the Greeks like to say: Μπουκιά και συγχώριο (boukia ke singkhorio)or “one bite and all is forgiven”.
