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Jenya Shalikashuili, 58 years old — Alaverdi, Armenia
Dolma (a Turkish word which means “stuffed”) is a typical dish of all those areas that belonged to the Ottoman Empire. It can be tasted in Greece, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Armenia, but in each of these places the actual taste and the preparation are slightly different. In Armenia the name, too, is a bit different: here, indeed, it is called Tolma. It is a roll of minced beef, rice and vegetables wrapped into grape leaves. Jenya, 58 years old and 4 grandchildren, was born and has lived all her life in Armenia. She learnt to cook Tolma when she was 15 and since then she has been cooking this dish at least 4 times a week. “It is the favourite meal of my whole family. My grandchildren didn’t use to like it when they were young, but now they love it. When they come for dinner I prepare it in two different ways, because I don’t use pepper in the ones I know they’ll eat. This is the trick to make even kids eat them”.

Tolma – (roll of beef and rice wrapped into grape leaves)
Difficulty: medium
Time: about 1 hour
Ingredients for 4 people:

— 250 gr white onions, 100 gr coriander, 8 garlic cloves and a sprig of thyme
— 100 gr rice boiled for the 80% (it has to be almost cooked, but not completely)
— 500 gr minced beef
— 100 gr butter
— salt, pepper
— fresh grape leaves
—
First, put in the blender 250gr of peeled and washed onions, some coriander, a sprig of thyme and two cloves of garlic. Make it into a smooth puree.
Mix the minced beef with the puree and stir. Add a spoon of black pepper (use a lot less if kids are going to eat the tolma), 100gr of butter in pieces, 100gr of rice and two pinches of salt. Work everything with your hands, until the butter melts and the mixture becomes smooth.
Now dip the grape leaves into some boiling water for 10 seconds and drain them. Then, shape the paste prepared before into small rolls, of about 3cm in width and 5 cm in length. Wrap them into the leaves.
In the meanwhile, boil some water.
Cover the bottom of another pot with a layer of rolls (already wrapped with the leaves) so as to fill the whole surface and use a dish with the same diameter of the pot to cover them, as if to squash them. Put a weight on the dish (Jenya used a stone from the garden) and pour some boiling water, until it covers the dish. Heat for 30 minutes.
When it is cooked, take the dish away and get the rolls from the bottom of the pot, being careful not to break them. Arrange them on a plate and serve. Enjoy your meal!