We will be posting an amazing recipe each Friday in our ‘Festive Flavours’ series for the next four weeks. Congratulations go to Daniel M. this week, who is a courier on the Just Eat network, for submitting his delicious recipe for ‘Sarmale’.

Sarmale is a popular Romanian dish that is made by stuffing cabbage leaves with a mixture of ground meat, rice, and herbs, and then cooking them.

Daniels says ‘For me, it is the number one type of food that I like to eat! My wife makes a wonderful Sarmale, so thank you to her. We especially prepare sarmale for Christmas, the cabbage sour taste and the mince meat, rice and everything else mixed inside makes this food perfect! Happy Christmas and enjoy this recipe, it’s special’.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil – Use this to saute the onion and rice. You can use any type of oil that you have handy.
• Onion – Use a large onion because this recipe makes a lot of cabbage rolls. Every bite should have a little bit of onion in it!
• Long grain rice – Jasmine or Basmati rice. Don’t use brown rice as it takes a lot longer to cook than white rice and you may end up with crunchy bits in your rolls.
• Ground pork – Use pork because it has a higher fat content and makes for some nice juicy rolls. You can use any type of ground meat you like, but keep in mind that leaner meats like chicken or turkey will come out drier. You can even combine meats, for example half pork and half beef.
• Fresh parsley and dill – Using fresh herbs makes such a big difference in how the flavor develops in your rolls.
• Salt and pepper – Season the mixture to your own discretion but be careful with the rolls because the sour cabbage is quite salty.
• Sour cabbage leaves – This is what really sets the Romanian version apart from the rest. Sour cabbage is basically fermented cabbage, same as sauerkraut but it’s sold as whole cabbage instead of chopped.
• Bacon – Find yourself a nice thick-cut smoky style of bacon or any other smoked meat.
• Tomato juice – This is what the rolls are going to sit and cook in.

Method

1. Prep The Cabbage: Soak the sour cabbage in cold water overnight to remove the salt from the cabbage. Once the cabbage has soaked in water for a bit, you want to take each leaf and cut some of the core from it. However, if you’ve already bought a jar of cabbage leaves, you may not even need to do this. Then cut each leaf in half, to make the cabbage rolls slightly smaller.
2. Prep The Filling: Cook the onion and the rice for a bit before adding it to the meat mixture. Sauté the onion in some vegetable oil for about 3 minutes until softened. Then add the rice and toast it for 1 minute. Let it cool while you get the other ingredients ready. Now, in a large bowl, you’ll want to add the ground pork, salt, pepper, parsley, dill, and the onion mixture. Mix it well with your hands until well combined. Use the salt sparingly since the cabbage leaves are brined.
3. Preheat The Oven: Now is the time to preheat your oven, so get that going to 375°F (191°C), so that it’s nice and warm when we put our cabbage rolls in.
4. Make The Rolls: Fill each leaf with about a ¼ cup of the meat mixture and roll making sure to tuck in the ends. Repeat with all the remaining meat and cabbage leaves.
5. Assemble The Rolls: If you have any leftover cabbage leaves you’ll want to chop that up and spread some on the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Then place the cabbage rolls on the chopped cabbage in a single layer. Next, you’ll want to top with bacon, and be generous. Now you’ll need to pour the tomato juice over the cabbage rolls and add additional water as needed. You want to make sure the rolls are completely covered with liquid. Finish with another layer of cabbage rolls, more bacon and a bit more chopped cabbage. If you like you can also season with some ground pepper.
6. Bake The Cabbage Rolls: Cover the Dutch oven with a lid or aluminum foil if your pot doesn’t have a lid and transfer it to the oven. Bake for 2 hours, then remove the lid or foil and cook for another 1 to 1.5 hours. Then, eat and enjoy!