Sarma
Although famous during holidays (especially during cold winter month), sarma is best eaten whenever. If you make your own pickled kupus (cabbage), you have to prepare for weeks in advance. If you buy it at the store, you’ll have deliciously made sarma within just a few hours.
The smell that entrances your home is one of childhood nostalgia for me. It’s more than just food. It’s something made with love. My father crafting the kupus to perfection and my mother’s fingers entwining it ever so delicately to make a perfect roll. It always reminds me of home and my parent’s love. One day I hope it’ll do the same for my daughter!
Ingredients for the Sarma:
20-30 pickled cabbage leaves (depends on how many you want to make)
1lb ground beef
1lb ground pork
1-2 pieces of smoked pork shank.
1 cup of rice
2 tbsp of paprika
1 tbsp of kosher salt
1/2 cup of chopped up parsley
2 tbsp of tomato paste
1 large onion
3-5 cups of water (depending on the size of your pot)
Ingredients for the roux:
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 tbsp of all purpose flour
A hefty splash of paprika
Directions:
Rinse the cabbage leaves. Be sure to save any scraps as you’ll use this to cover the bottom of pot. Save a few leaves as you’ll cover the sarma rolls.
Mix 1lb of pork (omit this and substitute for beef if you don’t eat pork) and 1lb of beef (double if not using pork). Add 1 cup of rinsed rice.
Mix in 2 tbsp of paprika (or more depending on your prefrence), 1 tbsp of kosher salt, 1/2 cup of chopped up parsley, and 1 large onion finely diced.
Once all ingredients are added, mix by hand. I recommend wearing gloves if you don’t want your hands to smell like all of that.
Once the filling is prepared, grab the cabbage leaf and lay it flat in your palm. Take a small amount of meat (look up cevapi and you’ll want something in that range - although it also depends on the size of the cabbage leaf).
Place the filling in the middle and begin to roll it upwards, after the meat is covered by the cabbage, take the left and right sides and fold in. As you do this, push in the cabbage in the center and make it tight. Make sure all parts of the cabbage is tucked in tightly.
Coat the pot with a tablespoon of oil or lard (if you have it). Cover the bottom with the scraps of cabbage. Add the smoked pork shank in the middle of the pot and place the sarme around the meat.
Once placed in the pot, cover the top of the sarme with the additional cabbage leaves. Then add water to cover almost all of the sarme, but do not fully submerge the top row. The top row should have water around it but not on top of it.
Cook on low medium heat for one hour and then add the 2tbsp of tomato paste. Make sure to mix it in.
Allow to cook for another 2-3 hours. This will all depend on your stovetop and how it is coming along.
When there is about 20-30 minutes left, make the roux. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and add 2 tablespoons of flour and a lot of paprika. If by the end of this, it’s not very red, you didn’t add enough paprika.
Add the roux into the pot and mix.
Once it has all be mixed together, let it simmer for the last 10 minutes.
Get some fresh bread and enjoy the sarma!
To see this recipe done in real time, visit our instagram page @Dishingwiththedawouds!
