Turkish-style dolmas: a vineleaf skin with rice-and-meat filling, excellent for snack or part of a summer meal with lots of small dishes. I bought dried eggplant halves from the Turkish shop in town. They came in a big bag; were brownish-purple, and were all on a string. The inside was scooped out, so they looked excellent for stuffing. Although the woman in the shop said soaking them overnight should be enough, I found them too tough. Better results can be had with boiling them for about 10mins on a small fire, and then soaking them in fresh cold water for an additional couple of hours.
The filling is made of beef mince with an equal amount of Arborio rice. Then add chopped-up peeled tomato from a tin, minced red pepper, finely shredded onion, salt, pepper, butter to smooth it all up, and herbs: parsley and mint, or dill. You can add some pine nuts, chopped apricots for extra flavour or use these instead of meat. Fill the eggplant-skins with thi s mixtureand place them in a pan. When they are all placed snugly, cover with tomato juice (from tin) water and add garlic slices and butter. Simmer for 40 mins. The same filling goes for vine leaves. Roll up and stack in same pan. Also delicious cold.