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Dolmades Yalatzi

Dolmades Yalatzi is a Greek dish of vine leaves stuffed with rice, onions, herbs, and cooked in olive oil and lemon.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Dolmades Yalatzi

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Drain the vine leaves.

  2. Saute the onions in half the olive oil until golden.

  3. Add the rice, salt, pepper, parsley, dill, mint, and half a glass of water.

  4. Cook until the water is absorbed.

Roll the dolmades

  1. Use a teaspoon to measure the portion of rice mixture for each leaf.

  2. Place the appropriate portion of rice on each leaf and fold to form a parcel.

  3. In a large saucepan, arrange the vine leaves close together.

  4. Place a plate on top to keep them from opening.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the remaining olive oil, 2 cups boiling water, and lemon juice.

  2. Cook over low heat.

  3. Serve the vine leaves cold with egg and lemon sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

392Calories
7 gProtein
14 gFat
61 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Dill + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together669 recipes

    Shared aroma: p-mentha-1,3,8-triene (camphor, herbal).

  3. Dill + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together976 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Absorbs liquid and swells as it cooks, giving the filling its body and soft texture.
Onions
Softened and browned in oil, they add sweetness and a savoury base to the filling.
Olive oil
Carries flavour and adds richness, and keeps the filling and leaves moist as they cook.
Vine leaves
Wrap the filling into neat parcels and hold it together while it cooks.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the herbs and rich oil.

The step that matters

Place a plate on top of the leaves. Rolled leaves tend to unfurl as liquid simmers and steam builds. A weight on top keeps the parcels closed and seam-side down, so they hold their shape and cook evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, rice, pepper, dill, parsley, mint, lemon):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, rice, pepper, dill, parsley, mint, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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