Turkish stuffed lamb spleen (dalak dolması)
Dalak dolması packs lamb spleen with a fragrant rice pilaf — pine nuts, currants, a little ground meat, and warm spices like cumin and cinnamon — then roasts it until deeply browned. It's an Anatolian offal specialty most closely tied to Manisa, and part of the same broader Ottoman and Middle Eastern tradition that gives us stuffed dishes like tihane, often served around festive occasions such as kurban bayramı.
Ingredients
Instructions
Rinse the spleens well and scrape away the outer membrane with a small knife — this lets them cook through evenly. Cut a deep pocket into the side of each one without cutting all the way through.
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and pine nuts and cook until the onion softens and the nuts turn light golden. Add the ground meat and cook, breaking it up, until browned.
Stir in the drained rice and toast for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the currants, parsley, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, allspice, and salt, then pour in 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is about three-quarters cooked, 10 to 12 minutes — it will finish cooking inside the spleen. Let cool slightly.
Spoon the filling into the pockets, packing gently and leaving a little room for the rice to expand. Close the openings with toothpicks or kitchen string.
Arrange the stuffed spleens in a baking dish, dot with the remaining butter, and cover with foil. Bake at 400°F for 30 to 35 minutes, then uncover and bake until well browned, about 10 minutes more.
Rest briefly, then slice and serve hot.
Notes
Don't skip scraping the membrane — it's what keeps the spleen from cooking unevenly.
The rice should still be underdone when it goes in; it finishes cooking inside the spleen.
For a crisper version, simmer the stuffed spleens in water until cooked through, then slice, dip in flour and egg, and pan-fry until golden.
Variations
Serve sliced with extra dried onion, a dusting of cumin, and red pepper flakes, in the Manisa style.
In Diyarbakır, where the dish holds protected geographic status, the rice filling is replaced with one built on tail fat, caul fat, and a heavier mix of allspice, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon.
Goat spleen is also traditional and can be used in place of lamb.
Source
Dalak dolması traces back to Ottoman and wider Middle Eastern cooking and remains part of Anatolia's shared offal tradition today. The rice-and-pine-nut style here is most associated with Manisa; Diyarbakır's very different, tail-fat-based version carries official geographic-indication status. As with Morocco's tihane, it's often connected to festive occasions like Kurban Bayramı, when spleen becomes available after home slaughter.
Dalak dolması traces back to Ottoman and wider Middle Eastern cooking and remains part of Anatolia's shared offal tradition today. The rice-and-pine-nut style here is most associated with Manisa; Diyarbakır's very different, tail-fat-based version carries official geographic-indication status. As with Morocco's tihane, it's often connected to festive occasions like Kurban Bayramı, when spleen becomes available after home slaughter.