Romanian Sarmale Recipe
A traditional recipe for the most known dish in Romania. Sarmale is the national dish of Romania. Each part of the country cooks it a bit differently though. This is how my mom makes it.
Ingredients
- 500 gr minced pork
- 300 gr minced beef
- 200 gr smoked pork ribs / smoked pork meat
- 2 kg pickled cabbage
- 200 gr rice
- 1 big onion
- 1 big red bell pepper
- 100 ml tomato sauce
- 30 ml sunflower oil
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 15 peppercorns
Instructions
- Wash the rice and put it in a bowl with one tablespoon of coarse salt. Mix well, then change the water and wash the rice two more times, without the salt. Leave it in cold water until it’s used in the recipe.
- Prepare the pickled cabbage by separating the leaves, one by one. This is what you will wrap the filling with to make the Romanian cabbage rolls.
- Combine the two types of meat and then mix it with the onion, turmeric, caraway seeds and thyme. Don’t add salt. Add 100 ml of water over the mixture then add the rice. Make sure you mix the ingredients well.
- Take a cabbage leaf and put one tablespoon of the mixture in the middle. Wrap it to form a roll and then seal the edges. If you are unsure of what technique to use check out the recipe notes section where I share a link to a video that shows you a great technique.
- Do the same until you finish the meat. Make sure to put aside 2-3 cabbage leaves. Chop the rest of the remaining leaves into julienne. Chop the red pepper the same way.
- Now get yourself a big pot that has a lid and put the oil at the bottom. Add half of the chopped cabbage and the red pepper to the pot. Add half of the tomato juice over them. Arrange the rolls in the pot very close to each other, one by one.
- Between them, put the smoked pork meat, chopped in rough chunks. Once you finish putting all the rolls in the pot, add the peppercorns and the bay leaves on top, and cover with the rest of the chopped cabbage and red pepper.
- Pour the rest of the tomato sauce over it. Cover the pot with the 2-3 cabbage leaves you saved earlier.
- Add boiling water to cover the rolls if needed, and then place a large oven-resistant plate on top of the pot. This is important to avoid the rolls lifting to the surface whilst boiling. Cover with a lid
- Put it over medium heat, until they start to boil. Reduce the heat to a minimum and let them simmer for two to three hours.
- The cabbage rolls are served hot, with sour cream on top and alongside polenta.