Amasya’s hidden delicacy: The essential dish at engagements and festivals

In Amasya, baklali dolma is more than a dish. The geographically registered specialty remains an essential part of the city’s kitchens and a fixture at festivals, weddings and engagement celebrations.

The recipe uses vine leaves, dried fava beans, cracked wheat, onions, peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste and meat. Cooks place the filling in the center of each leaf and fold it into a five-cornered parcel. The parcels are arranged in a pot over bone-in rib meat and simmered on low heat for about two hours.

Skilled women prepare the dolma in everyday life, but especially gather before holidays and celebrations to wrap it together. Mothers pass the technique to their daughters, preserving a tradition that links the dish to family and community life.

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Baklali dolma is indispensable to Amasya cuisine. Friends, neighbors and relatives come together to wrap it.

Canan Aylak, an instructor at the Amasya Maturation Institute, said, “Baklali dolma is indispensable to Amasya cuisine. Friends, neighbors and relatives come together to wrap it.” Duygu Esen described it as a tradition passed from grandmothers to daughters and said young women in Amasya should know how to prepare it.

Gönül Göl, who is from Hatay, said she learned how to make baklali dolma from her mother-in-law.

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In Amasya, young women must definitely know how to prepare baklali dolma.