Traditional sarmale: Romania's sour cabbage leaves stuffed with pork and rice

No Romanian table at Christmas, Easter or a wedding goes without a pot of sarmale. Stuffed leaves come from the Ottoman dolma, but Romania gave them sour cabbage, fermented whole in brine barrels through the autumn, and the company of cornmeal polenta, mămăligă, and sour cream.

The fermented cabbage is what makes the difference: it brings acidity, softens as it cooks and withstands hours in the pot without falling apart. Outside Romania, the closest thing is the sour cabbage leaves sold in Eastern European grocery stores; failing that, fresh cabbage blanched with vinegar and salt gives an honest result.

The cooking is long, two to three hours on low heat, with smoked bacon and thyme between the layers and a tomato broth that reduces until it is almost a sauce. They are even better the next day, and a big pot is the norm: small rolls, lots of them, for the whole family.

Recipe card

• Origin: Romania
• Category: Main course, stuffed leaves
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation time: 1 hour
• Cooking time: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Serves: 8 (about 40 rolls)

Ingredients

• 1 whole sour cabbage (or 1 large fresh white cabbage, see tip)
• 800 g ground pork (shoulder with some fat)
• 200 g ground beef
• 1/2 cup raw rice
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 200 g smoked bacon, sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 500 ml tomato juice or tomato broth
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Polenta (mămăligă) and sour cream to serve

Method

1. Carefully separate the sour cabbage leaves, rinse if very salty, cut out the thick rib and halve the large leaves. Chop the torn leaves and the core and set aside.
2. Sauté the onion in the oil for 8 minutes, until lightly golden. Add the rice and sauté for 2 minutes.
3. Mix the meats with the onion and rice sauté, the dill, one spoon of tomato paste, the paprika, half the thyme, salt and pepper.
4. Place a tablespoon of filling at the base of each leaf, fold in the sides and roll tightly, tucking the ends inward.
5. Line the bottom of a large pot with the chopped cabbage, half the bacon and the bay leaves.
6. Arrange the rolls in tight layers, with bacon and thyme between them, and cover with the rest of the chopped cabbage.
7. Dissolve the remaining tomato paste in the tomato juice, top up with water to cover the rolls and weigh down with an upturned plate so they do not float.
8. Cook on low heat (or in the oven at 160 °C) for 2 hours 30 minutes, until the cabbage is very soft and the liquid has reduced.
9. Serve hot with polenta, sour cream and a fresh chili on the side.

Tips and variations

• With fresh cabbage: remove the core and blanch the whole cabbage in boiling salted water with half a cup of vinegar, peeling off the leaves as they soften.
• Pickled vine leaves make the spring sarmale, smaller and more tart.
• Orthodox fasting version: filling of rice, mushrooms, carrot and walnuts, no meat.
• A spoonful of sour cream inside the filling makes it more tender.
• They freeze very well once cooked, with the broth.
• Do not overfill the leaves: the rice swells and the roll opens.
• Firm polenta cut with a string, as in Transylvania, is the correct side.

Sarmale are the smell of a Romanian Christmas: sour cabbage, smoked bacon and thyme cooking for hours in the pot. Make plenty, because the next day they vanish.