Sarma

Ingredients

• Whole soured cabbage1.5 kg
• Minced pork700 g
• Minced beef300 g
• Rice120 g
• Onions3
• Smoked ribs500 g
• Smoked pork fat150 g
• Sweet paprika2 tbsp
• Tomato paste2 tbsp
• Flour2 tbsp
• Bay leaves3
• Vegetable oil60 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Take the cabbage apart into leaves, rinse off the excess brine and pare down the thick ribs.

   20 min

2. 2

   Fry the chopped onion in oil until soft and let it cool.

   12 min

3. 3

   Mix both minces with the raw rice, the onion, a spoon of paprika, salt and pepper.

   10 min

4. 4

   Roll the filling in the leaves into tight parcels, tucking the ends in.

   40 min

5. 5

   Line the bottom of the pot with shredded cabbage trimmings and half the ribs.

   8 min

6. 6

   Pack the sarma in layers with ribs and pork fat between them, and add water level with the top layer.

   12 min

7. 7

   Stew two and a half hours on a low heat, adding a roux of flour, paprika and tomato paste at the end.

   155 min

About the dish

The leaves come from a whole soured cabbage rather than a fresh one. Their acidity is the flavour sarma is made for in winter; with fresh leaves this becomes a different dish.

The rice goes in raw and sparingly — it trebles in volume. Too much rice bursts the roll; too little leaves the filling as dense as a meatball.

Smoked ribs go on the bottom of the pot and between the layers. Their smoke works through every roll, and without them sarma comes out bland.

Worth knowing

• — Do not stir sarma with a spoon. Rock the pot instead: stirred rolls unwrap and the filling ends up in the broth.
• — The paprika roux goes in off the heat. On a hot pot paprika turns bitter within seconds and spoils the lot.
• — Sarma is better on the third day than the first. In Serbia it is made for holidays in an enormous pot and reheated all week.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

36 g

Fat

38 g

Carbs

32 g

More from Serbia

• Ćevapi — Skinless minced-meat sausages over coals, with raw onion and somun flatbread.
• Ajvar — A relish of roasted red pepper and aubergine, cooked down in oil to a thick paste.
• Gibanica — A pie of crumpled filo sheets in a cheese and egg custard, baked to browned ridges.