Assorted vegetables with a ground beef stuffing that will melt in your mouth! My all-time favorite food to eat. My dad was born and raised in Iran and this is a recipe passed down for generations. I wanted to share this with others because all my friends bug me or my dad to make dolma. It’s a big hit! You can stuff all kinds of vegetables, like tomatoes, or different kinds of squash, or use grape leaves as well, so feel free to experiment. I hope everyone enjoys the dolma as much as me and my family have for years.
Preparation Details
Prep Time: 1 hr
Cook Time: 2 hrs 15 mins
Total Time: 3 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ground beef
- 3 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste, divided
- ¾ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ¾ cup chopped green onion
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ¾ tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups uncooked white rice
- 1 medium head cabbage, leaves separated
- 4 large green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 large eggplants
- 2 large zucchini, sliced
Steps
- Combine ground beef, 2 1/2 cans of tomato paste, parsley, green onion, butter, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
- Before adding uncooked rice, rinse until water runs clear; this keeps the rice from becoming sticky. Add rice after rinsing and mix contents until blended well.
- Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil; add cabbage. Boil until just tender enough to fold, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, hollow out bell peppers, eggplants, and zucchini.
- Stuff hollowed vegetables with meat mixture. Set in a large pot (pack vegetables together so there isn’t much room in between them). Fill cabbage leaves with 3 to 4 tablespoons of leftover meat mixture and set in the pot with the other vegetables. Pour water in the pot on top of the vegetables until almost covered. Stir in remaining tomato paste. Weigh down the food by placing a heavy, heat-proof plate on top.
- Bring water to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cover the pot. Let cook for 1 hour. Drain half of the water in the pot (leave heavy plate until done cooking) and recover, reducing heat to a simmer, and allow to slow cook for 1 hour more. Serve warm and enjoy!
