dolmádes

Stuffed grape leaves or dolmádes are a classic meze, with numerous variations. Usually they have rice (although some people use pligoúri) and herbs (dill for some, wild fennel for others); some use ground meat, except during Lent, and many, but not all, serve them in avgolémono, or yogurt or myzithra cheese mixed with paprika and olive oil.

Without meat they are also known as dolmadákia yialantí, or γιαλαντζί (from the Turkish word for ‘fake’). Some call them Φύλλα.

The word dolma comes from the Turkish 'to fill' which is why a shared taxi in Turkey is a dolmuş: the more customers a driver stuffs in, the more money he or she makes.

The same word is used across Balkans, Mediterranean and Caucuses for stuffed vegetables, although in Greece it nearly always will mean vine (or cabbage) leaves, while other vegetables are called yemistá.