SWISS CHARD DOLMA

Swiss chard dolma

Ok, I know it has been a long time that I’ve last posted here. I am still writing my recipes but in a Turkish blog. Looking at the traffics of this English blog I thought it is not really interesting to put Turkish recipes on the internet. 

Anyway. But I know there are people out there who would and indeed do take interest with what I have to share. Big thanks to Sandra, the English lady in Italy, who genuinely gives me courage to continue with what I have to offer. 

I will start putting translations of recipes I’ve posted earlier on my Turkish blog. 

Here we go. Again. :)

Well, dolma stuff are really typical Turkish food. I know that in the neighbor countries like Romania, Greece, and Armenia and or even in the Middle East they make dolma. In Europe dolma is called dolmades after the Greek ones.

Normally the most common dolma we make is with the grape leaves. You can find freshly picked grape leaves or brined grape leaves. So all year long you can make them :) They also make dolma of any other leaves actually. Like swiss chard, like swiss chard or collard greens. It is the first time I try the swiss chard, but I can assure you that it is delicious. I found that the swiss chard is more difficult to work with than the grape leaves because they are more tender than the grape leaves. You have to be careful not to tear the leaf. But the result is great! I think it might be even more convenient for the palate of the European people because it is so tender. In Turkey we say “it is like eating Turkish delight” when we say that something is soft and tender in the mouth (like a piece of sofly baked meat) and I think swiss chard dolma was also like Turkish delight in that sense :)

Ingredients (see the notes below)

1 bundle of swiss chard, washed and drained

a bundle of swiss chard

a bundle of swiss chard

For the filling:

1 glass of rice, washed and drained

1 medium sized onion, chopped fine

1 handful of fresh mint, chopped fine

1 handful of parsley leaves, chopped fine

1 fresh onion, chopped fine

Salt to your liking

3 – 4 drops of sumac molasses (see the notes below)

Water

Olive oil

Method:

1. I started with preparing the filling: I heated the olive oil in a pan and I sautéed the onion for 3 – 4 minutes. Then I added the rice and sautéed it with the onion until the rice became transparent. When the rice was transparent I added half of a glass of water and closed the lid and cooked the rice until it soaked all the water on low fire.
2. When the rice soaked the water and was half-cooked, I turned off the fire; I added some salt and put the pot uncovered aside so that the filling could cool down a bit.  
3. While the rice was cooling down, I prepared the leaves of the swiss chard: I cut off the stalks of the swiss chard and put them aside. I used my pressure-cooker to steam-cook the leaves and I steam cooked the swiss chard leaves for 2 minutes. I let it aside a bit to let it cool down and squeezed the leaves to get rid of the excess water they had when they were a bit cooler. (see the notes section below)
4. When the rice filling cooled down, I added the fresh herbs and the sumac molasses and mixed.
5. Before rolling the dolma, I made sure that I placed the rice filling on the part of the leave where the windpipes are placed.  This will ensure a better looking dolma on the outside. Also, on the wider part of the leaf, if not the very middle. I closed the leave from left and right on the filling as if I am making a package. I rolled the pointy upper part on the filling and started rolling the whole leaf (see the pictures). I continued with this process until all the leaves were filled with the filling.
6. I placed the dolma’s in a pot and poured half a glass of water (or a bit less). On low fire, I cooked the dolmas until the rice is soft. For me it took 15 – 20 minutes. 

Step 1 - the filling of the swiss chard dolma

Step 5 - place the filling in the internal part of the leaf where you see the thick windpipe of the leaf

Step 5 - place the filling on the wider part of the leaf. 

Step 5 - close the left and right wider sides of the leaf on the filling

Step 5 - close the pointy upper part on the filling; by enclosing from the sides, start rolling 

Step 5 - swiss chard leaf rolled around the filling

Step 6 - cook the dolma for about 15 - 20 minutes in half a glass of water so that they don't burn or stick to the bottom

Delicious swiss chard dolma

Swiss chard dolma

Notes:

• This amount will only be enough for 2 people for a dinner or lunch.
• Alternative to the steam-cooking, you can blanche the leaves of the swiss card. Place them in boiling water and keep them there for 30 seconds to 1 minute; that is, until they are bright green and soft. Squeeze them out of the excess water without tearing the leaves.
• If you do not have any sumac molasses available; alternatively you can use pomegranate molasses or half a lemon juice.

HOW TO STOCK EDIBLE PLANTS IN THE DEEP-FREEZE

In İstanbul the edible plants are not available as long as they are in the Egean region of Turkey. It is usually from April to May only that we can find them on the stalls of the open air markets. However, loving to consume edible plants, I could stock them in my deep-freeze  the whole year long without loosing much taste to them. This way I could enjoy my favourite börek the entire winter (click here for the recipe) :)

 

Back in may, I bought so many edible plants, it was a bit of work to manage all that stocking process because you have to be quick otherwise the plants wilt and loose taste. But it was worth in the end of all that effort. 

I used more or less the same process for all the edible plants that I stocked:

mellow,

goosefoot,

wild mustard, 

lambs quarters (white goosefoot, pigweed) - see picture below

patience dock,

wild radish (see picture below),

dandelion,

golden thistle,

nettle. 

That’s what I did:

Depending on the edible plant, I steam-cooked the plant in my pressure cooker. As an alternative to steam-cooking in the pressure cooker, you can boil some water in a pot and soak the plants in the boiling water and take them out immediately with the help of a strainer. I find the steam-cooking method the most convenient as you don’t have to bother yourself with dripping water all around. 

As for the duration of steam-cooking, it depends on the plant: For something quite rhizomorphous like golden thistle it took longer. For all the other kinds of grean leaves like dock I steam-cooked them until they are bright green in colour (meaning 1 – 2 minutes). In the case of plants with harder stems such as mellow, I cut their stems apart and steam-cooked them seperately and for 3 – 4 minutes.  You have to see it for yourself because region per region, the same type of plant might have a harder stem or leaves. See the pictures below for a few examples of how the plants looked before and after steam-cooking in the pressure cooker. 

After steam-cooking the plants, I squeezed them to get rid of the excess water and put them in the deep-freeze bags in portions that I thought I could use.Time to vacuum-seal the bag: Holding the open part of the deep-freeze bags between my index finger and thumb, I put in a drinking straw in the bag and I sucked the air out of the bag. Without letting much air back in, I sealed the bag with a coated wire. When the plant cooled down a bit, I put the bag in the deep-freeze.

wild radish, jointed charlock, wild charlock

steam-cooked wild radish: bright green after 1 - 2 minutes of steam-cooking

Lambs quarters, white goosefoot, pigweed

 

steam-cooked lambs quarters: bright green after 1 - 2 minutes of steam-cooking