Dolma is a family of stuffed dishes that can be served warm or cold. Some types of dolma are made with whole vegetables, fruit, offal or seafood, while others are made by wrapping leaves, most commonly grape or cabbage leaves, around the filling. Wrapped dolma, specifically, are also known as sarma.

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 thrion.

The Iranian variety has been traced to at least the 17th-century. During the 19th-century several varieties were recorded 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.

Cabbage rolls entered Swedish cuisine (where they are known as kåldolmar) after Charles XII, defeated by the Russians at the battle of Poltava, returned to Sweden in 1715 with his Turkish creditors and their cooks.

In 2017, dolma making in Azerbaijan was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.