Dolmas - Stuffed Grape Leaves - Daring Cooks Challenge

Photo Courtesy of Budget Bytes - Creative Commons Attribution

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Isn't that a gorgeous picture? I must tell you up front that it's not my photo and I'm Dolma green with envy.

I found it while doing research for the current Daring Cook's Challenge and I must explain my envy. Lori, of Lori's Lipsmaking Goodness, hosted this month's challenge and she selected Dolmas, or stuffed grape leaves, as the dish she wanted us to make. Though she gave us two wonderful recipes, which can be found here, she also gave the nod for us to do our own thing if we wished. Her only real requirement was that we roll a leaf around a filling, and that was fine by me. As a matter of fact, that's my kind of challenge. I made the meat-filled version of the rolls for my entry and thought the sauce was spectacular. I'm a big fan of tamarind and it really appealed to me. I love Dolmas, but mine are a visual disaster, more appalling than appealing, and decidedly unappetizing. As luck would have it, the batch I made for the challenge looked especially bad and my photo, as you can see, would do nothing to improve my reputation as a photographer, much less entice guests to my table.

While searching for ways to visually save and plate my Dolmas I came across this feature at Budget Bytes. Beth's recipe was great, but her photos are what really caught my eye. They were stunning and her Dolmas really looked appealing. It was too late to salvage the ones I'd made, but I finally found a way to make the next batch look pretty. I suspect our guests will be seeing Dolmas in their futures. I really learned something from this challenge. Thank you, Lori. Thank you, Beth.




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