When we talk about
comfort food,
the first thing that usually comes to mind is a spoon dish made by our mothers or grandmothers, something purely contextual and of which each one has their own particularities.
For me,
comfort food
is a fake carbonara - with cream and bacon, yes -, some lentils or a gazpacho: with the passing of the years and the complicated independence, one ends up creating one's own wild card meals to feel protected by a dish.
Beyond the taste, the mere fact of seeing, smelling and cooking something specific can make us feel that we are really at home (beyond physically being there, because depending on the pace of life you lead, sometimes you may not even feel like your home. It is your house).
Interestingly, traditional foods from other countries and cultures have something special that passes my comfort food filter.
This is the case of Turkish dolmas.
Dolma is a starter that is prepared with grape leaves and filled with rice, minced meat and spices.
The fun thing about this is that you can add whatever filling you want, and that's why we are going to make a slightly different version of the original.
The grape leaf, somewhat complicated to obtain - and with a flavor that, personally, I do not like - we are going to replace it with chard, but you can use cabbage or even any type of vegetable that you like, since this dish is usually prepare to stuff peppers, eggplants, zucchini, etc.
That being said, let's get down to business.
Difficulty:
Requires a little practice to shape them, but nothing too far
Ingredients
For 15 dolmas
15 chard leaves
200 g jasmine rice
250 g minced beef
4 cloves of garlic
4 cloves of black garlic
1 fennel bulb (with its leaves)
2 shallots
1 green chili (optional)
25 mint
8-10 cilantro stems with their leaves
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons turmeric
1.25 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 level teaspoon ground white pepper
1.5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
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