Traditional Iranian Vegan Cuisine, Part 1 of 2 – Dolmeh

Delicious and aesthetically appealing stuffed foods can be found all over the world and are popular menu items on festive occasions. However they are made, it takes great skill and technique blending the fillings and the wrapper, so the flavors and textures are balanced and complement each other. ‟I am Baaran, and today I’m going to teach you how to make the vegan version of this Iranian dish (Dolmeh). We have 150 grams of soy protein, which I’ve already pre-soaked and drained. We used 250 grams of rice, which I’ve already cooked for 10 minutes and strained. The rice shouldn’t be soft; it has to be half-cooked. First, we need to season our soy protein and to do that, I’ll use soy sauce and some herbal salt. When the oil is sufficiently hot, add in the soy protein and fry it thoroughly. When the soy protein is ready, we add in the half-cooked rice. Most Iranian foods have special flavors and are delicious because of the aromatic herbs that are used. We’ll add the tomatoes and the 100 grams of yellow split peas that we have precooked. The mushroom sauce is a tasty seasoning, and pomegranate paste can be used as a substitute. The main flavors of this dish come from these aromatic herbs: tarragon, basil, and fresh dill. The combined sweetness of the molasses and sourness of the vinegar gives the Dolmeh its wonderfully delicious taste. Our mixture is now ready, and we can fill the eggplants and bell peppers with it. We’ll heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the eggplants. We fill them up to the top with as much of the mixture as we can, then cover them this way. Now it’s time to make a delicious sauce. First, we put some oil in the pan and fry the ginger for a while. When the ginger turns to a golden color, we’ll add in the tomato paste and the aromatic herbs. Now, we are ready to add in our spices, some herbal salt, curry powder, bell pepper powder, and ground white pepper. Then we add the mushroom sauce as well. I’ll add some vinegar and molasses. And fresh lemon juice that I made earlier. Now, the eggplants and bell peppers that have been stuffed are now cooking in the sauce. We’ll let the ingredients in the pan mingle to draw out the full flavor of the Dolmeh. Then it is ready to be eaten!"