Sarmale
Rolls of fermented cabbage leaf stuffed with minced meat and rice, slow-cooked with sauerkraut and tomato. They’re the Christmas and wedding dish in Romania, served with polenta (mămăligă) and soured cream.
Ingredients
- 1 whole fermented cabbage (or fresh cabbage, blanched)
- 500 g minced pork
- 100 g rice
- 2 onions
- 2 tablespoons tomato purée
- 200 g smoked bacon
- Dill, thyme, salt and pepper
- 400 g crushed tomatoes
- Soured cream and polenta to serve
How to make it at home
- Soften the onion and mix it with the meat, rice, tomato purée, dill, salt and pepper.
- Separate the cabbage leaves, cut out the thick rib, add a spoonful of filling and roll them up, tucking in the ends.
- Chop the leftover leaves and put them in the bottom of a pot with a few strips of bacon.
- Pack the sarmale in tightly, with bacon between the layers, cover with crushed tomato and water, and add thyme.
- Cook over a very low heat (or in the oven at 160 °C) for about 3 hours. Serve with soured cream and polenta.
The trick: They’re better reheated the next day.