Dolma - a dish consisting of minced meat in grape leaves, stewed in a cauldron - is delicious in itself. It is enough to pour it with the sauce or broth in which it was stewed. However, it is customary to serve it with a separately prepared sauce, which gives the dish freshness and allows it to best reveal its taste. Most often, such a sauce is made on the basis of fermented milk products, but you can make sauce for dolma not only from them. There are many options, and each of them is good in its own way.

Cooking features

There are not so many secrets to making dolma sauce, but they are worth knowing.

• Most often, the basis of dolma sauce is fermented milk products. When choosing them, you should remember that the sauce should be light, so the fat content of the products does not have to be high. The main thing is that they are fresh and not too sour.
• Lemon zest and mint add freshness to the sauce; sometimes lemon juice is added to it. Some recipes include cucumber to add freshness to the sauce.
• There are recipes for dolma sauce that include raw eggs. In these cases, it is advisable to prepare the sauce in a water bath, or, in extreme cases, over very low heat. Otherwise, the eggs will curdle instead of making the sauce thick and tasty.
• Adding fresh herbs will not spoil the dolma sauce, no matter what recipe you use to prepare it.

Sour cream and cucumber sauce for dolma

• sour cream – 0.2 l;
• fresh cucumbers – 0.2 kg;
• fresh cilantro – 50 g;
• salt, pepper - to taste;
• lemon – 1 pc.

Cooking method:

• Wash the lemon and dry. Grate the zest from it.
• Wash and dry the cucumbers, cut off their ends. Grate the cucumbers using the fine-hole side of a grater.
• Lightly salt the cucumber puree and leave for 10 minutes. After the specified time, squeeze the juice out of the pulp.
• Finely chop the washed and dried cilantro with a knife.
• Mix cilantro, sour cream, lemon zest and cucumber juice. Add a little ground pepper to this mixture to taste and stir.

If you want your sauce to be thicker, you can not squeeze the cucumber pulp, but put it in sour cream along with the juice. However, in this case, before grating, the cucumber must be peeled. In this case, old fruits are not suitable for making the sauce; only young cucumbers are needed.

Lemon sauce for dolma

• butter – 120 g;
• chicken egg – 4 pcs.;
• chicken broth – 0.5 l;
• lemons – 2 pcs.;
• wheat flour – 80 g;
• water – 50 ml;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Break the raw eggs into a small bowl. Add cool water to them and whisk.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan.
• Add flour and fry it in butter until caramel-colored.
• Pour in the broth in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat until the sauce thickens.
• At the next stage, you can pour the sauce into a bowl and continue cooking in a water bath. But you can continue cooking in the saucepan, reducing the heat as much as possible. Add the eggs in small portions, mixing the sauce well each time.
• Wash the lemons and squeeze lemon juice out of them. Add the zest from one lemon to it, finely grating it on a special grater.
• While continuing to heat the sauce, add lemon juice in a thin stream.
• Add the zest last, add salt and pepper to taste. Stir it again and remove from heat.

It is better to use this sauce before it has cooled - it will be much tastier warm.

Kefir-sour cream sauce for dolma

• kefir – 0.25 l;
• sour cream – 50 ml;
• fresh dill – 100 g;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Pass the garlic through a press and mix with sour cream.
• Finely chop the dill with a knife, add to the sour cream, and stir.
• Add salt and pepper, stir again.
• Dilute the resulting thick sauce with kefir. You need to stir until the consistency becomes completely homogeneous. If desired, you can use a mixer.

The sauce prepared according to this recipe is not only tasty, but also very aromatic.

Garlic-mint sauce for dolma on yogurt

• unsweetened yogurt – 0.2 l;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• fresh mint – 20 g;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Crush the garlic and mix it with the yogurt.
• Add mint to the yogurt, finely cutting it with a knife.
• Salt and pepper the sauce to taste.

This sauce can be called classic, so this recipe is necessary for those who want to cook classic dolma in grape leaves.

Traditional sauce for dolma from matsoni

• matsoni – 0.5 l;
• garlic – 6 cloves;
• fresh cilantro – 20 g;
• fresh mint – 20 g;
• fresh parsley – 20 g;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Peel the garlic cloves and pass them through a press.
• Wash, dry and finely chop the greens with a knife.
• Add garlic to the greens, add salt and pepper, and pound them together with a pestle or wooden spoon.
• Pour the spicy matsoni mixture and mix well until the sauce has a uniform consistency.

This recipe for dolma sauce is traditional. It turns out to be quite spicy due to the inclusion of a large amount of garlic and at the same time very aromatic, since it contains a lot of fresh herbs.

Egg sauce for dolma

• chicken eggs – 3 pcs.;
• lemon juice – 80 ml;
• chicken broth – 0.2 l;
• salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Wash raw eggs and dry them with a towel. Separate the yolks from the whites. You don't need whites; the sauce is made from yolks.
• Boil the broth and cool it to a temperature of about 40–50 degrees. That is, it should be hot enough, but not scalding.
• Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl.
• Continuing to beat the yolks, add lemon juice to them.
• Boil water in a large saucepan and place a bowl of yolks in it.
• While heating the bowl in a water bath, slowly pour the hot broth into the yolk-lemon mixture. At this time, the sauce must be constantly whisked.
• Boil the sauce in a water bath for 10 minutes. Add salt and spices if necessary, cook for a couple more minutes and remove from heat.

The sauce prepared according to this recipe will be very tender and quite thick, with a slight pleasant sourness.

Dolma sauce can be prepared according to different recipes. Most often it is made on the basis of fermented milk products, but it is often prepared from eggs and broth. The choice of recipe depends on the taste you want.

If you like cabbage rolls, then you will probably like dolma. For the filling, ordinary minced meat is used, but the filling is wrapped not in cabbage leaves, but in grape leaves. Prepared semi-finished products are stewed in broth. To make the dish even tastier, prepare and serve the dolma sauce separately. There is no single recipe for making the sauce; there are different options for gravy. But most often, the base of the sauce is fermented milk products. However, you can also make tomato sauce, which will be no less tasty.

Of course, every good housewife has her own secrets for preparing dolma sauce. But our recommendations will certainly help newbies in the kitchen.

Most often, fermented milk products are used as a base. You can prepare dolma sauce from sour cream, kefir or matsoni. It is better not to use too fatty sour milk; the sauce for the dish should be light. You should also not use products that are past their expiration date; they contain too much lactic acid, and the sauce should not be too sour.

Spices and aromatic herbs are used to add piquancy to the sauce. If desired, you can add garlic. The sauce, which contains cucumber, has a particularly fresh taste. Using fresh herbs is a must. In addition to the usual dill and parsley, you can add basil, mint, and cilantro to the dressing. Choose the types of greens to suit your taste.

Interesting facts: in our country, dolma is prepared mainly from minced meat, but the filling can be very different. For example, only from vegetables, or from vegetables and rice.

Matsoni dolma sauce

The traditional sauce for dolma is made from matsoni. This fermented milk product can be bought in supermarkets, or you can prepare it yourself. For this purpose, a starter is used, which can be purchased in pharmacies. To prepare matsoni, you can use a yogurt maker or a regular thermos. The starter is diluted in warm milk according to the instructions and the milk mixture is kept for several hours.

• 400 gr. matsoni;
• 1 large bunch of mixed greens, use parsley, dill, basil, cilantro. If desired, you can add a sprig of mint;
• 4 cloves of garlic;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Wash the greens thoroughly. It is advisable to use a mixture of different greens to make the sauce more flavorful. Dry and finely chop. There should be enough greens to make the sauce thick.

Peel the garlic. We pass it through a press or chop it very finely. Mix matsoni with garlic and herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything. Pour sauce over hot dolma.

• 200 gr. thick sour cream;
• 200 gr. fresh cucumbers;
• 50 gr. fresh cilantro, can be replaced with parsley;
• 1 lemon;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Wash the lemon well and scald with boiling water. We grate the zest using a fine grater, you don’t need a lot of zest, half a teaspoon is enough.

Peel the cucumber, cut off the ends, then cut the fruit in half and remove the seeds using a teaspoon. Cut the pulp into very small cubes. Grating is not recommended; the sauce will be too watery. Lightly add chopped cucumbers and leave for 10 minutes. Drain off the released juice.

We wash the greens and carefully shake off any droplets of moisture. Dry the greens and chop them finely. Mix sour cream, zest, chopped cucumbers and herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir.

Sour cream dressing with cheese, garlic and herbs

It has a more piquant taste when cooked with garlic and herbs. In addition, the composition includes hard cheese. You can use any cheese, but it is better to choose a variety with a sharp taste.

• 200 gr. thick sour cream;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 100 gr. cheese;
• 50 gr. greens (we take greens to taste - dill, parsley, cilantro, etc.).

Wash and dry the greens, chop them as finely as possible. It is best to chop on a board with a large sharp knife.

Advice! If you don’t have fresh herbs on hand, you can use any dry aromatic herbs. You can take a mixture of herbs, for example, ready-made Italian Herbs seasoning.

Peel the garlic and chop it. You can chop the greens with a knife in the same way as greens. To make this easier to do, you must first press the clove with the flat side of the knife and slightly flatten it. You can do it easier - pass the garlic through a special press and grind it with a spoon.

Grate the cheese on the finest grater. Mix sour cream with cheese, herbs and garlic. Mix very thoroughly. Season the sauce with pepper and salt. Add salt carefully, as the cheese can be quite salty. Let the finished sauce stand in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes, then transfer it to a gravy boat and serve with hot dolma.

Kefir garlic sauce

If sour cream sauce seems too fatty to you, then you can make gravy from kefir and garlic.

• 200 ml kefir with a fat content of 1-2%;
• 2 tablespoons sour cream 15% fat;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 1 large bunch of dill;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Pour kefir into a mixing container and add sour cream. Mix with a mixer or whisk until smooth. We thoroughly wash the dill and shake off any drops of moisture. Then dry it. The easiest way is to wrap a bunch of greens in a paper towel; it absorbs moisture very well.

Read also: Hollandaise sauce - 5 homemade recipes

Finely chop the washed dill with a sharp knife. Chop the dill just as finely, add a pinch of salt and grind well. You can pass the garlic through a press. Mix the kefir base with herbs and garlic. Season the dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with dolma.

Advice! This sauce is great not only for dolma, but also for regular cabbage rolls.

Mayonnaise sauce

Mayonnaise dressing is suitable for dolma. You can simply pour mayonnaise over the dolma, but it is better to prepare a dressing based on this cold sauce. You can make your own mayonnaise if you wish. With a blender on hand, you can make mayonnaise in just five minutes.

• 100 gr. mayonnaise;
• 25 gr. green salad;
• 250 gr. spinach leaves;
• 1-2 sprigs of tarragon;
• 2-3 sprigs of parsley;
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar;
• salt, citric acid.

Thoroughly wash the greens - lettuce, spinach, tarragon and parsley. If you use frozen spinach, you must first defrost it.

Boil water, add a pinch of salt and citric acid to the water. Place the greens in water and blanch for a couple of minutes. Then drain the liquid, and pour the greens in cold, preferably ice water. When the greens have cooled, chop them very finely.

The fact that in modern conditions we have the opportunity to turn to recipes from traditional cuisines of the world is undoubtedly encouraging. However, our grandmothers were also familiar with the various secrets of preparing dishes from different regions of the Soviet Union, and one of the most popular culinary delights – dolma This dish is reminiscent of the familiar cabbage rolls, only the minced meat is not in cabbage, but in grape leaves. To serve the dish, a variety of dressings are prepared that can highlight the original taste of the dish. The classic sauce for dolma is made from matsoni, a traditional fermented milk drink in the Caucasus, but it can be replaced with ordinary sour cream.

Having prepared juicy, aromatic dolma, it’s worth spending a little time to serve it with a delicious sauce. This dish in itself is very appetizing, but a sour cream dressing with light creamy notes will reveal all the facets of its uniqueness.

You will need:

• Sour cream – 150 ml
• Full fat kefir – 200 ml
• Garlic – 3 cloves
• Dill, fresh – 1 medium bunch
• Cilantro, fresh – 1 small bunch
• Basil, fresh – 1 small bunch
• Black pepper, ground – taste
• Salt – taste

Number of servings – 5

Cooking time – 15 minutes

Sour cream base

Main dressing ingredients – this is sour cream and kefir. Obviously, choosing them for the sauce requires great care. For example, sour cream should be quite fatty, thick and not have an unpleasant sour taste. You can find such a product in regular stores, but the most successful option would be farm products. This dairy product has many advantages: it is much healthier, tastier, and does not contain preservatives or flavor enhancers. Kefir must have an impressive percentage of fat content. If the meal is already going to be quite high in calories, a low-fat drink is unlikely to significantly reduce the number of calories. A variety of greens will suit the dolma sauce according to the recipe below, and the more you get, the better. The sauce for dolma should be aromatic and thick, and have the same rich taste as the dish itself. No other ingredient other than herbs can cope with this task.

1. Fresh dill, basil and cilantro are washed in cold water and dried with a towel. Hard stems of greenery must be removed and the leaves finely chopped with a knife. Garlic passed through a garlic press is added to the chopped herbs placed in a deep bowl, then salt is poured. Everything is mixed and infused for several minutes.
2. At this time, the base of the sauce is being prepared. Kefir is poured into a bowl, after which sour cream is carefully added to it. The mixture is stirred first with a spoon and then – using a whisk. It should turn out completely homogeneous, without separation or lumps. The base is seasoned with ground black pepper to taste.
3. The preparation of the sauce is completed by mixing all the ingredients of the dressing. To do this, the sour cream-kefir mixture is poured into the mixture of herbs and garlic, and mixed carefully and for a long time. The finished sauce for dolma is homogeneous, moderately thick, with an even distribution of the herbs crushed in it.

Innings

The prepared dolma sauce must be kept in the refrigerator for about half an hour before serving. Freshly prepared dolma is laid out on a plate, after which sour cream dressing is generously poured on top. If several sauce options are planned, they are served in separate gravy boats.

1. This sauce made from kefir and sour cream with herbs is suitable not only for dolma, but also for cabbage rolls, meatballs, cutlets – in a word, any dishes that contain minced meat. A good combination would be to serve the sauce with fish dishes, especially – fried fish. Seafood appetizers that included frying during the preparation process will turn out much softer and tastier with sour cream dressing.
2. Dolma sauce can also be served for other appetizers – especially nachos, croutons and fresh vegetable slices – bell pepper, carrots, cucumber.

A quick recipe for a festive or everyday feast, which is a classic sour cream dressing, will appeal to both the housewife and her household. The finished sauce, which is left over after a meal, can be stored in the refrigerator for two days, which means you can enjoy the taste of your favorite dishes with dressing the next day!

Dolma is a type of cabbage rolls that are wrapped in grape leaves. Grape leaves are a classic shell for dolma, and for minced dolma it is best to use lamb or prepare a mixture of beef and lamb.

How to cook dolma known in almost all countries that were under the Ottoman yoke. They also know how to cook dolma in both Ukraine and Russia, only this dish is called cabbage rolls.

What dolma is made from:

1. Pickled grape leaves - 40-50 pieces
2. Minced lamb (lamb with beef) - 500 grams
3. Onions - 2 onions
4. Rice - 100-150 grams
5. Parsley, cilantro, thyme, mint - a small bunch each
6. Garlic - 2 heads
7. Salt and pepper to taste

Dolma recipe:

Now let’s move on directly to the recipe for making dolma. To prepare it you need grape leaves, the minced meat itself and the sauce with which the dish is served.

Grape leaves for dolma:

For dolma, either fresh grape leaves or pickled ones are used.

If you decide to prepare dolma from fresh grape leaves, first rinse them, and then pour boiling water over them and leave for 5-6 minutes.

If fresh leaves are not available to you, then you can purchase salted grape leaves.

If you purchased them, soak them before using the salted leaves. Just add enough warm water and leave overnight. During this time, remove excess salt from them.

If you were unable to find either fresh or salted leaves, then purchase canned grape leaves in a store or market.
Whichever option you use for dolma, in any case, before the cooking process, cut off the stalk of each leaf.

Sauce for dolma:

Ideally, dolma is served with matsoni sauce. But my family loves my own sauce. To prepare the sauce, I mix sour cream and mayonnaise and also add garlic and finely chopped herbs. I mix it all well. And the dolma sauce is ready.

How to make dolma:

1. Wash the rice thoroughly and boil until it is half cooked. While the rice is cooking, mince the onion and meat, add chopped herbs and spices to your taste.

Rinse the rice, already boiled until half cooked, with cold water and add to the prepared minced meat. Then mix everything well. The filling for our dolma is prepared.

2. Lay out the grape leaf on a cutting board. Place about 30 grams of minced meat on top of it (this is about 1 tablespoon) and fold the sheet with the filling into an envelope.

3. Choose a pan for cooking dolma with a thick bottom. Cover the bottom of the pan completely with a layer of grape leaves. Then place the dolma next to each other in dense layers.

Cover the top of the dolma again with a layer of grape leaves.

4. Now fill the contents of the pan with water so that the water is at the level of the upper grape leaves. If you use fresh grape leaves, then the water needs to be slightly salted.
Let the dolma simmer over low heat for about 50-60 minutes.

5. Serve the finished dolma hot, after decorating it with herbs and sauce.

Watch the video recipe for making dolma.

Dolma is a popular oriental dish made from grape leaves stuffed with vegetable or minced meat. It is served hot, after adding any spicy gravy. In today's publication we will analyze in detail several simple recipes for sour cream dolma sauces.

With mint

This universal white sauce goes harmoniously with dolma, highlighting its taste. That is why it is especially popular among Eastern housewives. To prepare it in your own kitchen, you will need:

• 200 g of fresh thick sour cream.
• 2 cloves of garlic.
• Half a bunch of dill and feather onions.
• Mint stem and salt.

Since this sauce does not contain a single ingredient that requires preliminary heat treatment, its preparation will take no more than ten minutes. First you need to make sour cream. It is simply transferred to a deep bowl, and then added with salt and supplemented with garlic passed through a press. At the final stage, the almost finished sauce is mixed with chopped herbs and chopped mint. All this is left to steep for a short time and then served with dolma.

With kefir and herbs

This thick, moderately spicy sauce has a very interesting taste and amazing aroma. Therefore, it will ideally complement oriental cabbage rolls made from grape leaves. To prepare it you will need:

• 50 g of fresh non-acidic sour cream.
• 250 ml kefir.
• 100 g dill.
• 2 cloves of garlic.
• Salt and ground pepper.

Preparing this sauce for dolma from sour cream is extremely simple. First you need to do the dill. It is washed, crushed and combined with crushed garlic and sour cream. All this is peppered, salted, diluted with the required amount of kefir and stirred with a mixer or whisk.

With cucumbers and lemon

Sour cream sauce for dolma, made using the technology described below, has a slightly sour taste, thick consistency and incredibly fresh aroma. To create it, it is advisable to use young cucumbers, since old vegetables are covered with a hard peel and filled with large seeds. To make this sauce you will need:

• 200 g of fresh thin-skinned cucumbers.
• 50 g green cilantro.
• Zest of a small lemon.
• Salt and ground pepper.

You need to start the process by preparing the cucumbers. They are rinsed under the tap, dried, freed from everything unnecessary and processed using a fine grater. The resulting mass is lightly salted and put aside for a while. After about ten minutes, squeeze out the juice and combine it with chopped cilantro and sour cream. All this is peppered, salted, supplemented with chopped lemon zest and mixed. To give the finished sauce a thicker consistency, add cucumber puree rather than juice.

With green onions

This is one of the simplest options for making sour cream dolma sauce. It contains only three ingredients, and the creation process takes no more than five minutes. To obtain it you will need:

• 200 g of fatty, non-acidic sour cream.
• A bunch of green onions.
• Salt (to taste).

First you need to tackle the feather bow. It is thoroughly washed under running water, shaken and crushed. Then it is poured into a deep bowl, which already contains sour cream. All this is lightly salted and stirred thoroughly.

With cumin

This thick and very aromatic sour cream dolma sauce is a successful combination of fermented milk products, spices and herbs. To prepare it, you will need:

• 250 ml of fresh kefir of any fat content.
• 50 g thick non-acidic sour cream.
• ½ tsp. cumin.
• Salt, black peppercorns and dill.

First you need to deal with the spices. Salt, black peppercorns and cumin are thoroughly ground in a mortar and then supplemented with chopped dill. All this is poured into a bowl, which already contains sour cream diluted with kefir, and mixed thoroughly.

With natural yogurt

This dolma sauce made from sour cream and garlic has a homogeneous, fairly thick consistency and a pleasant lemon flavor. To prepare it, you will need:

• 300 ml unsweetened full-fat yoghurt.
• 600 g of high-calorie non-acidic sour cream.
• 200 g fresh cucumbers.
• 8 cloves of garlic.
• 2 lemons.
• Salt and ground pepper.

Sour cream is combined with yogurt, and then supplemented with freshly squeezed lemon juice, grated cucumbers and crushed garlic. All this is peppered, salted, thoroughly mixed and put into a beautiful bowl. Before serving, the sauce must be infused so that it has time to soak in the aromas of all the ingredients.

With cilantro and dill

Sour cream dolma sauce, prepared according to the recipe discussed below, contains a lot of fresh herbs and a minimum of hot spices. Therefore, it can be safely offered not only to older people, but also to growing gourmets. To get it you will need:

• 250 g of fatty, non-acidic sour cream.
• A bunch of fresh dill and cilantro.
• Garlic and salt (to taste).

First you should tackle the greens. It is washed, shaken and chopped with a sharp knife. Then it is combined with sour cream and garlic passed through a press. All this is lightly salted, mixed and put into a beautiful bowl.