Prepare vegetables: Wash vegetables such as zucchini, yellow squash, Japanese eggplant, bell peppers, small yellow chili peppers, tomatoes (not ripe). Hollow vegetables (remove pulp.) If desired, rinse vegetables to remove residual seeds and pulp and then drain by turning upside down on a towel.

Prepare meat mixture: With hands, combine and mix together the ground meat, bulgur, tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, allspice, sugar and green bell pepper (optional).

Optional: Boil lamb necks/shoulders until cooked fairly well. Rinse meat and pat dry. Use the lamb pieces to line the bottom of the dolma pot, add some additional flavor and to eat. Alternatively, you can line the bottom of the pot with grape leaves.*We prefer to use a separate pot for cooking the sarma, which you also need to line with grape leaves.

Stuff vegetables with raw meat filling. Leave about an inch of space at the top of each vegetable to leave room for the bulgur to expand during cooking.

Stuff grape leaves. Flatten a single grape leaf on a plate or cutting board. Snip the stem off the grape leaf. Be sure the thicker veins are on the outside. Place about a tablespoon of filling centered at the bottom of the leaf. Spread filling into a thin line, about half an inch from the sides of the grape leaf. Bring the bottom of the leaf up over the filling and tuck it in so that it hugs against the filling. Next, fold in the sides of the grape leaf and finishing rolling from the bottom of the leaf to the top. When properly rolled, stuffed grape leaves should look like thin cigars. (This is the shape that our family preferred.)

Once everything is stuffed, prepare the dolma and sarma for cooking. Get the pot that you lined with lamb pieces (and/or grape leaves). Put bell peppers in the pot first. Then continue loading the vegetables from heartiest to most delicate.Load sarma (stuffed grape leaves) into a separate pot lined with grape leaves. Make sure that grape leaves fit snuggly into pot.You could also cook everything in the same pot, if it fits. In this case, tie the sarma together with twine and place on top.

Prepare simmering juice (to cook dolma and sarma in). Combine water, lemon juice, tomato sauce and sugar.

For each pot, pour enough simmering juice to cover the top of the dolma and sarma. Then, turn a dinner plate upside down over the dolma and sarma to help stabilize during baking. Weight the plate down with a large glass mason jar filled with water.

Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before serving. Cooking time may vary depending on the amount made and size of the pot.