The traditional cold vegetarian dolma stuffing involves spiced rice with currants and pine nuts. In recent years, Turkish chefs have started replacing the currants with sour cherries, which contribute great colour as well as flavour. They may think they are doing something new, but actually a sour cherry-stuffing recipe appears in the first published Turkish cookbook, Melceu’t-Tabbahin (The Cook’s Shelter) from 1844—of course, those adventurous Ottomans thought of it first. This recipe was inspired by my friend Batur, whose yaprak sarma is a signature dish at his scholarly Ottoman restaurant Asitane (see).