Croatian Sarma Recipe (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) (2024)

FAQs

What is sarma made of? ›

Each usually consists of minced pork, rice, onion, eggs, thyme, and dill rolled in a leaf, usually a cabbage leaf. The baking dish is lined with chopped cabbage and sauerkraut layered with bacon or pork belly and the cabbage rolls, then topped with more sauerkraut and dill sprigs.

Combine ground beef, cooked rice, egg, milk, onion, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of mixture onto each cabbage leaf. Bring one end of the cabbage leaf over the mixture, rolling and tucking in the ends to prevent filling from falling out; arrange rolls in a single layer in the slow cooker.

If your cooked cabbage is tough, it's likely because the cabbage is not cooked through yet. Continue to cook the rolls until they're tender. It's also important to make sure you let the rolls rest after they're finished baking.

Freezing breaks down the structure of the leaves, making them pliable and unlikely to crack or break when you pull them from the head or roll them for stuffing.

It is made of whole sour cabbage (cabbage heads covered with salted water in a barrel, pressed with a rock), well known for its impressive health benefits. If uncooked, sour cabbage contains natural probiotics — live lactobacilli and other beneficial microbes which improve your gut and overall health.

Sarma is cousin to the Greek Dolmades, however this Armenian staple has a very unique and incredibly delicious flavour. Armenian Sarma has that thousand-watt lemon and olive oil taste– and this recipe adds an upgrade of tomato, hot pepper paste, Aleppo pepper and another zing of pomegranate molasses.

Initially, cabbage rolls were created by the Turkish, who claim to be the original cookers of the dish. But as they conquered more and more territory, the recipe was spread and adapted by tens of other countries.

Method #1: Cut the core out before halving the cabbage. This is how to core cabbage for cabbage rolls, because the whole leave is used for rolling. If the cabbage is halved before coring, then the whole leaf won't be there for stuffing.

Baking soda does help green vegetables retain color, but it causes undesirable color changes in red cabbage—it turned blue. The science can be distilled to this: Adding baking soda to cooking water makes it slightly alkaline, which stabilizes the green color of chlorophyll.

Do you want to eat the stuffed cabbage in the next week? If so, place them in the refrigerator. The stuffed cabbage will stay fresh for up to 1 week. If not, place them in the freezer.

Can you overcook cabbage? ›

You overcook the cabbage

Overcooked cabbage is rather unappetizing as it becomes too soft and attains "that" annoying smell that dissuades many from cooking cabbage.

Sarma Melngailis (born September 10, 1972) is an American chef, cookbook author, and businesswoman. She was the owner and co-founder of Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck, both vegan raw food restaurants in New York City.

In the cuisine of the Crimean Tatars, dolma refers to peppers stuffed with minced lamb or beef, rice, onion, salt, pepper. Carrots, greens, tomato paste, and spices can be added to the filling. When grape leaves are stuffed with the same filling, however, they are called sarma.

Sarma – originated from Turkey, prepared in the Balkan, Mongolia, Armenia, Iraq…