This is a traditional Romanian recipe that requires some ingredients not easy to find. The key ingredient is sauerkraut, but a whole cabbage that you can cut as needed. Some people do sarmale with fresh cabbage that they boil. Personally I don’t like it as it becomes too sweet. The sauerkraut (cabbage) balances nicely the sweet filling, so in then end you get a meal that you can’t stop eating.
I should mention this is my mom’s recipe and you make around 50 sarmale. I know it sounds like A LOT but what I normally do is split in dinner-size portions and store them in the freezer for upto 3 months. When I am craving for some sarmale, I take a tupperware out, unfreeze it and warm it up on the stove.
I recommend using an ironcast pot, as it will cook the sarmale evenly.
Cabbage preparation
This is the first step, before starting with any of the rest. It’s the most lengthy and delicate step (at least for me). You need to cut the big cabbage leaves into leaves a bit larger the size of your palm. In the end I had 3 piles like this. Don’t trash any remaining, as you’ll need it to put in between the sarmale layers. Also, keep 4 big cabbage leaves to put on the bottom of the pan and to cover on top.
Ingredients
2 large cabbage (sauerkraut)
2 lbs ground pork
2 tbsp sunflower oil (or other flavorless oil)
10 medium onions, finely chopped
1 bottle of tomato sauce (500ml)
2 tsp Romanian Thyme (or 1 tsp if using any other type)
2 tbsp Vegeta
1 tbsp paprika
3/4 tsp black pepper
1 egg
1/3 cup Italian rice (arborio) not cooked
bay leaves
whole peppercorn
baguette and sour cream to serve
Instructions
In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the onions and saute until they soften.
Add the tomato sauce, 1 tbsp Vegeta and 1 tbsp paprika and cook for 1-2 more minutes. The mixture should be sweet to taste. Let it cool for 10-15 minutes.
When the onion mix has cooled down, put the meat in a large bowl. Add the rice, thyme, 1 tbsp Vegeta, 1 tsp black pepper, the egg and half of the onion sauce. Mix the ingredients well.
Packing
Take a cabbage leaf (that should be slightly bigger than your palm, like in the image below) and fill it with a bit of meat. Don’t overfill it, since the rice will expand during cooking.
Roll the cabbage leaf in your hand, then push the cabbage inside. In the end, it should look like this:
Layering
Cover the bottom of the pot with 2 big cabbage leaves. This will help your sarmale not stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add a bit of onion mix, then place sarmale one next to each other in circle, making sure you’re not squeezing them. Once the circle is complete, spread some onion mix on top, sprinkle with some whole pepper, 2-3 bay leaves and some finely chopped sauerkraut.
Repeat with the next layer of sarmale, onion mix and so on and until all sarmale are arranged in the pot.
Cover with 2 remaining cabbage leaves.
Add water to cover the sarmale and boil on low heat for at least 4 hours. Check every 20-30minutes to make sure they are covered in water. Add water as needed.
To check if the sarmale are cooked, remove one and taste 🙂
You can serve immediately with some bread and sour cream.
Bon appétit.
My journey in the kitchen 