The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Culture Portal records Kuruluk Dolması for Adıyaman using ten each of four vegetables dried in summer: peppers, eggplants, zucchini and cucumbers. Its rice filling is seasoned simply with pepper paste, sumac sour, dried mint, olive oil and salt. The source credits Adıyaman Cemile Mutfak Kültürü (2016). This six-serving version uses 60% of the recorded quantities while retaining all four dried vegetables and the meat-free method.
Adıyaman Kuruluk Dolması — Recipe Card
Adıyaman Stuffed Dried Vegetables with Rice
Makes 6 servingsUS cup = 240 ml · tablespoon = 15 ml · teaspoon = 5 ml. Cup and weight conversions are approximate. Australian cooks: use a 15 ml measuring tablespoon.
Ingredient quantities and servings are scaled. Cooking times, pan sizes, frying oil depth, and temperatures stay the same; cook larger batches as needed.
Ingredients
How to make Adıyaman Kuruluk Dolması
Inspect and rinse the dried vegetables
Check every dried pepper, eggplant, zucchini and cucumber. Discard any piece with mold, damp patches, insect damage or an off odor. Rinse the sound pieces under cool running water, including inside the cavities.
Soften the shells
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the dried eggplants, zucchini and cucumbers and boil for 5–7 minutes; add the peppers for the final 3–4 minutes. The shells should bend without cracking but must not become mushy. Drain, rinse under cool water two or three times, and leave upside down to drain.
Soak and drain the rice
Cover the rice with hot tap water and let it stand for 20 minutes. Drain, rinse under cool running water until the water is mostly clear, then drain thoroughly so the filling does not become watery.
Mix the filling
Put the drained rice in a wide bowl. Add the pepper paste, sumac sour, dried mint, olive oil and salt. Mix thoroughly until every grain is lightly coated and the pepper paste is evenly distributed.
Fill the vegetables
Spoon the uncooked rice mixture into the softened vegetables, filling each only about two-thirds full and leaving the rice loose. Do not compress it. Arrange the pieces snugly in a wide heavy pot, preferably with open ends leaning against one another so the filling stays inside.
Cook gently
Place a heatproof plate over the dolma to keep them settled. Pour in enough of the measured hot water to come about two-thirds of the way up the vegetables; you may not need all of it. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer for 40–50 minutes. Check after 35 minutes and add a little more hot water if the base is dry. The shells should be tender and the rice fully cooked with no hard center.
Rest and serve
Remove the pot from the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes so the rice finishes absorbing moisture. Lift away the plate carefully. Serve the dolma warm, spooning a little of the tangy cooking liquid over each portion.
Bring this recipe to your kitchen with a printable copy.
Print recipeRecipe from MyTurkishRecipes · https://myturkishrecipes.com/stuffed-dried-vegetables-adiyaman-kuruluk-dolmasi. Quantities reflect your selected serving scale. Cooking times are estimates; follow the doneness cues.
Make it work in your kitchen
Ingredient Substitutions
These swaps change flavor or texture as described. Keep the original ingredients for the closest version of the dish.
Turkish red pepper paste
Use the same quantity of tomato paste, then add mild paprika to taste. This gives a more tomato-forward flavor and will not reproduce the full pepper flavor.
A few helpful kitchen notes
Regional scale
The Adıyaman source gives ten each of dried pepper, eggplant, zucchini and cucumber with 1 kg rice, 2 tablespoons pepper paste, one dessert spoon each of sumac sour and dried mint, one water glass of olive oil and salt. This version uses 60% of those amounts and interprets the Turkish water glass as 200 ml before scaling.
Finding the dried vegetables
Look for hollow, food-grade dried vegetables at Turkish or Middle Eastern grocers. Dried cucumber is less widely stocked; for a practical variation, replace it with six additional dried zucchini, while recognizing that the official Adıyaman combination uses all four vegetables.
Heat level
Mild when made with mild pepper paste and mild dried peppers. For a hotter pot, replace up to half the pepper paste with hot pepper paste or include one hot dried pepper; mark it before serving so diners know which piece is spicy.
Dietary note
The base recipe is vegan. Pepper paste and sumac sour are packaged ingredients whose formulations can vary; anyone avoiding gluten should check their labels rather than assuming every brand is suitable.
Rice safety
Refrigerate leftovers in shallow covered containers within 2 hours and use within 3–4 days. Reheat only the portion needed to 74°C/165°F throughout. Discard cooked dolma left at room temperature longer than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 32°C/90°F.
How to store and reheat Adıyaman Kuruluk Dolması
Cool leftovers promptly in shallow covered containers and refrigerate within 2 hours at 4°C/40°F or below. Eat within 3–4 days. Reheat to 74°C/165°F throughout with a splash of water to keep the rice moist. Freeze cooled dolma for up to 2 months; thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
Adıyaman Kuruluk Dolması: questions and answers
Do I need all four dried vegetables?
All four belong to the recorded Adıyaman formula and give different textures. If dried cucumber is unavailable, additional dried zucchini is the closest practical substitution, but the result is a variation.
Why are the dried shells boiled before filling?
Brief boiling makes the dry vegetables flexible enough to fill without cracking and begins removing their concentrated drying flavor. Repeated rinsing follows the regional method and also cools them for handling.
Why is the rice not cooked before stuffing?
The source uses soaked raw rice. It absorbs the seasoned cooking liquid inside the vegetables, so the shells must be filled loosely and only two-thirds full to allow expansion.
What can I use instead of sumac sour concentrate?
For a practical substitute, mix 5 ml (1 tsp) pure pomegranate molasses with 5 ml (1 tsp) lemon juice and use 6 ml (1.2 tsp) of that mixture. It provides tartness, but it is not identical to the source ingredient.
