I love love love Dolmas. There is nothing more satisfying to me than popping a little treat in my mouth. I love the canned dolmas from the supermarket. I love the fresh dolmas from my local Lebanese spot. I never dared to make them. There is something incredibly daunting about boiling fresh grape leaves or washing preserved grape leaves and stuffing them. I can’t really explain it. So when I saw a TikTok of someone making onion dolmas and saw how simple it was, I jumped right in. Within 5 minutes of considering “do I actually have time for this?” I was boiling onions to stuff them.

Before you start, consider that your house is going to smell like onions. But not in a BO, hot summer day in local transportation way. More in a “mmmm what you making there??” way. The scent may attract people to the kitchen, which may disrupt your assembling. However, this can be a great opportunity to bring people to do the work for you hehe.

Ingredients (loosely measured, because I eyeballed most of this)

For the filling:

• 3-4 (may more) large white onions
• 1lb of minced meat (I used beef but you can use lamb or a combination of both)
• 1 cup of white rice
• 1/4 cup finely chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup finely chopped zucchinni
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp zaatar
• 1 tbsp ground oregano
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp olive oil

For the braising liquid

• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup of the water from the boiled onions

Method

Preheat your oven to 390F. In a medium pot, add all of the braising liquid ingredients and bring to a low simmer.

Fill a large pot with water and add salt to season and bring it to a boil. Cut the ends off the onions and peel them. Use a sharp knife to slice onion halfway through the layers (vertically). Be careful not to cut through the whole onion. Add them to the water and boil them for 15-20 mins.

Meanwhile mix together all of the other ingredients to make the filling.

Once the onions start softening take them off the stove and out of the water. Let them cool for a bit. Sorry I don’t have pictures of this! The layers of the onions should start peeling off on their own. Be careful not to burn yourself because they will be very hot.

Using a tablespoon begin to stuff each peel of onion into a tight little bundle of love. They will look like this! They are remarkably easy to wrap because of the natural tightness of the onion.

Assemble your little bundles in an oven safe vessel and cover them halfway with the braising liquid. Cover your oven safe vessel with aluminum foil so they can steam and pop them in the oven for 45mins to 1 hour. Once the 1 hour has elapsed, remove the tinfoil and crank up the heat to 450F and broil for 5-10 minutes until they are golden brown and caramelized.

Enjoy!!