Dolmadakia gialantzi

You can find many recipes, maybe not as delicious as Mrs. Evangelias, but we want to give you something more. Before we give you the delicious recipe we will talk about culture, we will talk about the history that accompanies the dolmades.

The Japanese can do “zen” exercises to achieve patience and calm, we here at Lotos Luxury Apartments suggest a tastier way: wrapping dolmades in small cylinders, something that requires fine movements, a sense of symmetry, dedication and patience.

Dolmades are in our gastronomic culture. A taper with dolmades follows us most of the time on our trips.

Dolmadakia is called sarmadakia by others and giaprakia , names that clearly refer to the Ottoman Empire. But the idea is known from Ancient still Greece . Only in ancient times dolmades were called "thria" and were wrapped in tender spring figs .
Over the centuries this delicious idea was adopted by Turkish cuisine, while the Greeks borrowed Turkish names.
Sarmadakia from sarmak, which means wrap , giaprakia, from yaprak which means sheet and dolmak which means fill .

On the other hand, the name gialantzi comes from yalan which means lie and therefore gialantzi (yalanji) means false. Surely you have heard the phrase gialantzi dude which generally means something fake, imitation.
So they are called gialantzi dolmades because they did not contain meat and were cooked with pure olive oil, while we know that Turkish cuisine is based on meat and butter. So fake dolmades.

The tasteful dolmades is a starter and prepare us for the main dishes that will follow.
Now Lotos Luxury Apartments it's time to reveal to you the delicious recipe of Mrs. Evangelia .

Servings: 60
Preparation: 0:20 '
Cooking: 0:40 ’
Degree of difficulty: Moderate

Recipe Ingredients:

• 60 tender vine leaves
• 2 cups Carolina rice or clove rice
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 bunches of chopped spring onions
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 bunch chopped parsley
• 1/2 bunch chopped dill
• 1/2 bunch of chopped mint
• 1 lemon
• 1 grated tomato
• salt
• freshly ground pepper

For yogurt sauce:
• 400 g strained yogurt
• juice of 1 lemon
• tbsp. means tablespoon
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. cold water
• 1 tbsp. chopped dill
• 1 tbsp. chopped mint
• salt

Procedure

For the gialantzi dolmades with vine leaves, first soak the rice in a bowl of water for 1 hour. Then put it in a colander and rinse it under running water to remove the starch. Drain well. Put the rice in a bowl. Squeeze 1 lemon in the rice and stir.

Heat half the olive oil and sauté over low heat the dried onions and spring onions for 3΄-4΄. Add the rice and mix well, to be oiled.

Add 2 cups. water and simmer for 6΄-7΄, until the rice drinks its liquids. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with herbs. Grate the tomato in the filling and mix it well.

Meanwhile, boil the vine leaves for a few minutes and put them in a bowl of cold water. We drain them. Remove any thick nerves at the edge of the vine.

We take a vine leaf in our palm, with the nerves facing up, to see them, we put a spoonful of filling, we close the two sides and then we wrap the dolma in a roll. We make the rest in the same way. Lay the bottom of the pot with vine leaves. Place between the stalks of the herbs that we put in the filling.

Place the dolmades in a row in the pot, with the joint facing down and close together. Pour the rest of the olive oil over them and cover them with a plate so that they do not unwind during cooking. We place a weight on the plate.

Pour water over it, just enough to cover them. Simmer the dolmades until the water ends and they are almost with their oil, for about 40΄. Serve cold with yogurt sauce.

For yogurt sauce:
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat with a whisk or fork for a few minutes, to make a liquid sauce. Pour over the dolmades.

Little secrets:

1. All you have to keep in mind is not to wrap the dolmades too tightly because even if the rice is half-boiled during wrapping, it can still increase in size during cooking and tear the vine leaf.
2. They are also made with zucchini flowers (anthous dolmades) as well as cabbage leaves (lahanondolmades).
3. Slow cooking for a perfect result.
4. If you want, add 2 tbsp to the filling. pine nuts and 2 tbsp. raisin.
5. A special material that Mrs. Evangelia was adding in the filling of dolmades is the coarse (the broken wheat).
   We can replace a part of the rice with coarse. Coarse is a material used by the old housewives and gives a special taste to dolmades.
6. Lemon and tomato, in addition to taste, keep the rice grainy.
7. After removing them from the heat, let them cool, withdraw their liquids and let the rice boil. Cold or at room temperature they are great.
8. It is forbidden to cook dolmades in a pressure cooker. Your effort will be wasted.
9. Make sure the vine leaves you use are tender with a soft, almost silky texture. If it is from a jar and already hard, they will never soften. They will remain rough again.
10. Fresh vine leaves need minimal scalding. Also, before using them make sure that they are not sprinkled.

Now you are ready to enjoy them, in the dining room or at the large balcony with view of Lotos Luxury Apartments. Bon appetit.