Dolma (Turkish for "stuffed") is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, and common in modern national cuisines of regions and countries that once were part of the Ottoman Empire. Some types of dolma are made with whole vegetables, fruit, offal or seafood, while others are made by wrapping grape, cabbage, or other leaves around the filling. Wrapped dolma are known as sarma. They can be served warm or at room temperature. History Stuffed vegetable dishes have been a part of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries. Recipes for stuffed eggplant have been found in Medieval Arabic cookbooks and, in Ancient Greek cuisine, fig leaves stuffed with sweetened cheese were called . The word dolma, of Turkish origin, means "something stuffed" or "filled". (A Turkish share taxi is called a dolmuş for similar reasons). In some of the former Ottoman countries, native names have been retained or have blended with Turkish language terms, for example, in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf and Damascus, stuffed leaves are called mahshi yabraq or mahshi brag, a combination of the Turkish word for leaf (yaprak) and the Arabic term for stuffed (mahshi). Several dolma recipes were recorded in 19th-century Iran by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar's chef, including stuffed vine leaves, cabbage leaves, cucumbers, eggplants, apples, and quinces, with varied fillings prepared with ground meat, sauteed mint leaves, rice and saffron. Iraqi Jewish families have a version of dolma with sweet and sour flavors that were not found in other versions. Dolma are part of cuisine of the Sephardic Jews as well. Jews in the Ottoman Empire used locally grown grape leaves and adopted the Turkish name of the dish. During winter months cabbage was a staple food for peasants in Persia and the Ottoman Empire, and it spread to the Balkans as well. Jews in Eastern Europe prepared variations of stuffed cabbage rolls with kosher meat—this dish is called golubtsy in Russian, holubtsi in Ukrainian, gołąbki in Polish and holishkes in Yiddish. As meat was expensive, rice was sometimes mixed in with the meat. Jews in Europe would sometimes substitute barley, bread or kasha (barley porridge) for the rice. In the Persian Gulf, basmati rice is preferred, and the flavor of the stuffing may be enhanced using tomatoes, onions and cumin. Cabbage rolls entered Swedish cuisine (where they are known as kåldolmar) after Charles XII, defeated by the Russians at the