Dolmas with meat substitute: delicious and traditional turkish recipe

Introduction to Dolmas with meat substitute 

I often make this dolmas with meat substitute recipe at home during the summer, when I miss Istanbul and my mum. She certainly used to cook dolma with minced meat in the traditional way. In fact, I stopped eating them for many years, but since I radically revolutionised the original recipe, I find that my dolma are even better than I remember.
Before moving on to the recipe, here’s some essential information about one of the most important dishes in Turkish cuisine.

How many types of dolma are there in Turkish cuisine?

There are essentially two types:

• The dolma traditionally made with meat and rice. This is the recipe we are modifying the ingredients today;
• The dolma traditionally made without meat, but with rice, dried fruit, spices and herbs. This is known as zeytinyağlı dolma, literally meaning ‘dolma with olive oil’ (you can find the wonderful recipe here).

By common consent, the meat-based version is simply called dolma, whereas the meat-free version must be specified as zeytinyağlı dolma. However, the presence or absence of meat in these two recipes is not the only difference!

Both versions are called dolma and may share some common ingredients and a similar appearance. However, they are actually two dishes with almost opposite characteristics.

• The meat version (including this plant based option) is usually served hot with a light sauce at the bottom and is often accompanied by yoghurt. It is typically served as a main course, typically after a soup, or as a one-dish meal.
• The traditional plant-based version (zeytinyağlı dolma), on the other hand, is served lukewarm or cold and is often simply dressed with only lemon juice. It has no sauce and is typically served as a starter as part of a meze platter, either before or alongside a main course.

Why make dolma with plant-based meat?

If you don’t eat meat, you’ll naturally have to opt for this version. However, I must admit that this is no sad sacrifice, as the original dolma is almost always made with fatty minced lamb containing at least 20–25% fat, and sometimes even more. This gives it a heavy taste and smell that many people, myself included, don’t like. So for those people, it will actually be an improvement!

But why use processed food in a traditional recipe?

I’d also like to respond to any criticism of my use of ultra-processed, highly industrialised plant-based meat by reminding critics of Paracelsus’s timeless principle: it is the dose that makes the poison.

Therefore, provided you don’t make these vegan dolmas every day and double the portions I suggest you, no one will suffer any adverse health effects from consuming approximately 60 grams of plant-based ‘meat’ per person. After all, most of the meat we eat comes from intensive factory farms, which are completely industrialised, and has nothing traditional about them. We are free to make choices that we believe to be valid and ethical. With this recipe, you can avoid animal suffering and feel no guilt without compromising the traditional flavour of the dish.
If you really prefer a more traditional approach, you can also use a mixture of cooked green lentils (or soya granules) and diced oyster mushrooms instead of industrial plant-based meat. It does take a bit more preparation, but you get a very tasty substitute. You’ll find my magical, revolutionary formula in the ingredients box below.

Which is the season of dolmas?

Meat dolmas can be cooked in summer using seasonal vegetables. However, it is also possible to make dolma in winter while respecting the seasonality of the ingredients by using certain summer vegetables that have been dried specifically for this purpose. In Turkiye, it’s common to see dried peppers and aubergines hanging in strings. They already have a hole for the stuffing after being rehydrated by boiling them in water for a few minutes.

Is there a Universal Dolma recipe?

So, if you’re ready, let’s start with the recipe. Apart from the source of the meat, it’s exactly how my mum would make them. However, you don’t have to follow it to the letter. In Turkiye, every family has its own way of doing dolmas and its own preferences, so you might even come up with your own version over time. Feel free to use whatever you have in the fridge with your own creativity and needs