On my third day in Zakho, we made Dolma, a dish distinguished by its stuffed vegetables and grape leaves. Like the kubbeh the day before, it was labor intensive.
First, Dahlia washed and prepared the vegetables. She deftly hollowed out the eggplant and squash. She pried the layers of onions out of each other like nested Russian dolls. Then she prepared a mixture of rice, tomato paste, hot pepper, and bits of beef or lamb meat. She stuffed this mixture into each of the hollow vegetables and placed the stuffed veggies in a large pot.
Above, the rice mixture and the pot filled with stuffed vegetables.
Most of the dish consisted of rolled grape leaves containing the meat and rice mixture. My job was to unfurl stacks of wet grape leaves which had been soaking in a saltwater mixture.
Like the kubbeh, rolling the vegetables bundles was tedious. As we worked, Dahlia listened to the Friday sermon coming from the mosque across the street. I asked her to explain the sermon to me.
Then she sent me outside to pick more grape leaves off the grape vines hanging over their car port.
The grapes will be ready late July or early August, Dahlia said.
The finished dolma served on a large silver platter like its predecessor (the kubbeh). This dolma fed a hungry household of relatives, neighbors, and the needy who drop by Dahlia's house because they know they can count on her charity and goodwill. The dolma had a savory and sour (from the sumaq seeds) flavor, and to be honest, it's not my cup of tea. But I appreciated Dahlia teaching me, and I thanked her profusely. "I'm your Kurdish mother," she said, "and all Kurdish mothers must teach their daughters to cook. We tell our daughters, 'Today you must learn to cook, because tomorrow you might go the house of your husband.'" I laughed and said, "Well, Kurdish mother, you have a lot of cooking to teach me!" Surprised, Dahlia asked, "Why, cheechay (little bird)? Are you going to the house of your husband tomorrow?"
"No, I'm going back to my apartment in Dohuk, and I am tired of cooking myself eggs, pasta, or lentil soup," I replied. She laughed.
Li
2 comments:
Goodness! This is quite the production. Was this special for-the-house-guest cooking, or does your hostess do this every day?
Hahahaha! I like Dahlia very much; she seems nice, intelligent, and compassionate. I would love to meet her one day, and I would also love to traipse there in the future to offer my meager services as a future health professional, if she'd have me ^^ Diana, your life seems so full of fun and adventure; I'm incredibly jealous! But I am very thankful that you have met this wonderful woman and that your life is not as lonely as it was the last time you were there in the Middle East. I still think it's weird that Iraq has an amusement park. I don't think I'll ever wrap my head around that fact until I see it for myself. But I am also glad that the amusement park was precisely that--an amusement park, and that it was enjoyed by all without limitations or prejudices. *hug* Be safe and healthy; enjoy all those veggies and fruits!!!
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