Hey guys this is me the Bombay Chef Varun Inamdar and welcome to Get Curried.
-Hey Chef! -Yeah?
What about this?
-Your ingredient for the day! -And what do you want to eat?
You are the chef!
So, let me surprise you and let me surprise you as well
by stuffing this and making Afghani Dolmas.
Let's begin.
Now because this was thrown at me I'm going to stuff the bell peppers
but otherwise Dolmas can be various kinds
you could stuff squashes, zucchinis, pumpkins,
baby pumpkins, tomatoes, onions, aubergines - go all out
and use the same stuffing or a similar kind of a stuffing.
Personalize it if you wish to and create this but otherwise
you can put meat in this, you can put chicken in this
and you can go all out and create your stuffings.
Today's style is a very typical afghani style of making this
but otherwise, when you travel
in the Mediterranean belt or in the Gulf or in the Emirates
you get different kinds of Dolmas.
You could also take the similar filling and roll it in cabbage leaves or in Vine leaves.
Choice is completely yours but today, let's do capsicums.
Now the first thing is to, of course, take tinier capsicums
or capsicums which could hold in compact almost like a pressure cooker.
That's the size that you choose.
Now this one is slightly larger, you could also cut this into half
but principally if you could take these sizes
then you just puncture it,
remove the cap off, stuff it tightly,
put the cap back on and then you go all out.
Let me take that one at a time,
to begin with, let me show you, how do you clean this?
The first thing is to with the thumb - punch it like so.
Now, the moment this goes inside,
almost 3/4th you pull this out get the entire bulb of seed out
and that's where you have a case or a cavity which is natural.
Now the next thing is to remove all the seeds and also
to ensure that the contours are within the capsicum
our kind of scrapped and removed.
Now, the whole idea is to knock this back like so
and remove all the seeds or as many seeds as many of those little...
pith like things, like so.
And similarly, let's continue with the rest of the bell peppers.
Well, if you find this punching business slightly complicated
what you could also do is hold the pairing knife like a pencil
and then you start carving the cap off like so.
Well, this way the cap gets pulled out with absolute ease
and that's what you want because you also want to save the cap because after stuffing
you want to cover this back so that
the mixture or the filling starts cooking, literally, like a pressure cooking build up
so that's also very important here.
Let's carve the contours of the capsicum
and tap this to ensure that there are no seeds and pith.
Now for the stuffing, I'm going to use parboiled rice
I'm going to use chicken mince and I'm also going to add
lots of onions for that sweetness, for that tenderness in this recipe.
Let's cut this nice and fine.
With lots of onions in this recipe the mouth feel of the filling suddenly changes
because when I say tenderness I mean the meat also starts suddenly feeling more tender
and that’s the beauty of adding lots of onions.
From these onions, I'm going to keep some aside.
For, of course, the sauce or the gravy
and the remaining onions need to go in the parboiled rice
by parboiled I mean rice which was half boiled.
Let's keep this aside - let's move on to cutting some coriander leaves.
We need to cut this nice and fine.
Let's add the Coriander leaves as well into the rice and onion mixture.
This way, like I said, you can personalize your stuffing
you can add in lots of Parsley, you can add in Dill Leaves
you can add in Mint Leaves, the choice is completely yours.
Just ensure there is some herb
that brings that life or that freshness in this recipe.
To this mixture, let's add in Chicken Mince.
Along with some flavourings in this case, Salt.
In case, you've added Salt while boiling or while parboiling the rice
- add it with caution
Pepper freshly cracked.
Cumin Powder.
And last but not the least Tomato Puree.
Now, Tomato Puree again could be optional in this recipe
because like I said, different regions make a Dolma differently,
You want to add in Tomato puree or just keep it to the sauce bit
that's completely personal as a choice.
Let's mix all of this well it has to be well mixed
because again you are not going to mix this you are going to straight take this
and put it inside the vegetable of your choice in this case, Bell Peppers.
Once this is mixed and ready your filling for the Dolma is done and ready.
The next step is, of course, is to take the Bell Peppers
and start stuffing this.
The stuffing in this case or in any case of the Dolma
needs to be nice and compact, do not keep it loose
because like I'm saying again and again
The technique is to create this like a pressure cooker.
There needs to be steam that generates within
and then this all cooks literally like a ball and that's important.
The next step in this case is to take the caps that we had kept aside
and lock this,
like so.
So it is back to the normal shape.
Let's keep this aside and let's start filling the rest of the capsicum.
And with this your Dolma is literally stuffed and ready.
The next step is to, of course, make the sauce and then to cook the Dolma.
Let's head there.
In a pan, let's heat oil.
Well, now talking about the size of the pan,
now this is again very critical and important because the size has to be as
that can take all the bell peppers or all the capsicums at one time
and also it has to be compact so if you see, all of these
will literally fit nice and compact in this pan
and that's the reason why I've chosen this size.
Once the olive oil heats, I'm going to add in Red Onions
which if you remember we had kept aside.
You just have to lightly sweat,
we are not looking at caramelization of any kind in this case
and that's about it.
The onions have begun to sweat.
Let's add in Tomato Puree
and along with this I'm going to add in some water.
A touch of Salt and Pepper beginning with freshly cracked black pepper
and Salt as required.
Now remember the fact that most of the water is also going to get absorbed.
So do not overdo your Salt.
Let's stir this well.
And the idea is not to cook the sauce at this stage because
the sauce is simultaneously cook,
while the capsicum or the bell peppers get baked.
Once this sauce starts simmering at the sides
I'm going to lower the flame
and start placing the bell peppers.
Well this is also the same dish in which
this is generally served so ensure it looks nice and colourful
because later you are not going to shuffle or change the positions.
Once the capsicum is well placed in this we are going to increase the flame
and now there are two-three things that are going to happen here
One the capsicum is going to start getting cooked from the bottom.
The sauce will also start evaporating at this stage.
Remember the salt that I was talking about.
This is what's going to happen now
and the next is to push this in an oven and cook this.
180 ° Celsius for 15 mins so that it gets nice and beautifully caramelized
from the top as well.
And with this off goes the flame.
And the stuffed Bell Peppers or the Dolmas move straight into the oven.
With this our Afghani Dolmas are baked and ready
let's move on to the next step and that is making a quick topping using Curd
for which I'm taking a deep bowl,
and to this I'm adding in Curd.
Let's add in some Grated Garlic.
Some chopped Dill Leaves.
Salt, as required.
Some freshness of Lemon Juice.
Ensure that the seeds are collected because you do not want surprises while having this.
Let's whisk this till it is nice and smooth.
Our Yogurt dip or a yogurt topping is done and ready.
Let's add this in specs here and there
on top of the Afghani Dolmas, now if you see,
they are looking so pretty, they are beautifully caramelized on the top
and they are nice and not really mushy.
They still are holding its shape and that's the beauty of this recipe.
You have to cook it perfectly in the tomato sauce
and then you have to caramelize it just perfectly
on the top, and that's where you get, these lovely looking Afghani Dolmas.
Let's top this up with this Dill Yogurt and Garlic topping.
Just to ensure this looks nice and colourful,
I'm adding in these little specs of Dill Leaves.
With this...
Our Afghani Dolmas are done and ready.
I hope you are impressed
-and you too. -Of course, I like what you make.
Bye for now.