One Pot Veggie Iraqi Dolma

This dish is Iraqi! You may have never had any Iraqi food. Here is what google says about Dolma: "Dolma is a family of stuffed dishes made in the Middle East, in which a vegetable or leaf is used as a container or wrapping for another food used as a filling. Common vegetables for stuffing are tomato, pepper, onion, zucchini, eggplant and pointed gourd." Dont get this dish mixed with stuffed grape leaves because they are similar but very different! You may be doubtful about making this but take my word it is worth the work and the make! It will take about an hour of prep time and another hour for cooking! So get a pot and your ingredients and start cooking!!!!

(Note: I am vegetarian so that's why it has no meat so add about a cup (or less) of grounded meat to the mix if you want)

Ingredients:

Swiss Chard

1 Pepper (Optional)

1 Tomato (Optional)

6 Zucchini (Optional)

1 1/2 cup rice

1 cup onion

1 cup parsley

1 TBSP Turmeric

1/2 TBSP Rosemary

3 TBSP Olive Oil

2 TBSP Pomegranate Molasses

1 TBSP Olive Oil

1 TBSP All Spice

2 TBSP Tomato Sauce

1/2 TBSP Ginger

1 TBSP Dill Weed

1/4 cup lemon juice

Refer to the ingredients list to know what you need! Most of them are really easy and you can find them around the house!

Take your Zucchini and take out all of the inside. Do not throw away the inside and instead chop them finely and put them off to the side to use later! Do the same for the pepper and the tomato if you choose to put that in your dish!

Put the rice to soak in boiling water (in a bowl, not a pot) for an hour.

For the mix, which is the most important part, you need to combine your rice parsley, onion, and inside of the zucchini and then mix well. Then add all the spices, tomato sauce, olive oil, and the pomegranate molasses. Mix very well until you cannot see the individual ingredient anymore.

Reading that top part you may be wondering what does that even mean? But the water and the spices is what you will put in with the finished dolma to help cook it. You will now need 1/2 the number of all the spices, 1 cup of water, 2 TBSP of pomegranate molasses, and 1 cup of tomato juice.

Now you will use the mix you made and fill all the vegetables until they are full. To do the Swiss Chard you will have take it and lay it on your counter then put some of the mix on the side that is closest to you (Just enough, not too much) then just roll it up until it doesn't move anymore. Super easy I hope. If you are having trouble just refer to youtube and search how to make Dolma.

First in the pot put some olive oil, then take some of the swiss chard and put it on the bottom of the pan, then put some of the white of the Swiss Chard on the bottom so nothing will stick to the bottom. Then start adding the vegetables in a organized way.

Put the pot on the oven, without the water, for 5 minutes on medium. Then add the water and the spices and put it on medium for 10-15, depending on when you see the water is starting to decline. During this time you should have a plate on top of the food so that it stays put and doesn't move around. When the water starts to decline put it on low for about 30-45 minutes until you think it is ready. (Note: It will smell reeeeally good, so you cover up your nose if you do not want to be standing next to it for 45 minutes :))

For this dish you have to take the pot and put a plate larger than it then take the handles and flip it upside down for all of it to fall. Or you can choose to take them out immediately from the pan and not go through the hassle of flipping it. Though flipping it will be fun and make a great show for your guests! It tastes really good! Serve it with vegetables if you want!