Sarmale
These Romanian cabbage rolls made using fermented cabbage leaves are a delightful treat.
Equipment
- Oven proof pot
- Tooth picks
Ingredients
- 1 dl red lentils
- 1 dl green lentils
- 1 dl starchy rice e.g. arborio
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 small carrot, finely diced ~100 g
- 400 ml pureed tomatoes
- 10-15 fermented cabbage leaves see note
- 3 tbsp brine from cabbage leaves if available
- 1 tsp thyme, dried
- 1 tsp sage, dried
- 1 tsp black peppercorns, whole
- 1 tbsp dill, dried or fresh
- a few parsley stems
- 5 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp oil e.g. canola
- toothpicks
Instructions
Stuffing
- Sweat half of the diced onion in a tbsp oil.
- Add finely diced carrots, thyme, sage and a tsp of salt.
- Add rice, lentils and an equal amount of water (I boiled it first in a kettle).
- Simmer for 5-10 min, until water is absorbed. The rice and lentils won't be done but they will have become a bit mushy, sticky and more managable. Set aside until cool enough to handle. To speed up the cooling you can fill your sink with cold water and place the stuffing in a bowl in the water.
Assemble the rolls
- Meanwhile, drain the cabbage leaves (preserve the brine) and slice them into halves, removing the stiff core. Keep the core.
- Chop the cabbage core and set aside.
- Prepare a cold, oven proof pot by adding 1 tbsp oil, half of the rest of the chopped onion and half of the chopped cabbage cores. Add half of the bay leaves, parlsey stems, dill and peppercorns.
- Make the rolls by placing a little bit of stuffing (1-2 tbsp) on a half cabbage leaf and rolling it up, folding in the sides if possible. Pin closed using a tooth pick.
- Carefully place each roll on the bed of onion and cabbage. Multiple are layers ok if necessary.
- When all rolls are made, cover with the last of the chopped onion, cabbage and spices.
Cook the rolls
- Carefully pour on the pureed tomatoes (400 mL) and 600 mL water. Add a few tbsp of the cabbage brine. If you don't have any brine, add some salt instead.
- Bring to a simmer on a low to medium heat. Since yo can't stir, be careful not to brun the pot.
- Simmer for 60 min with a lid.
- While simmering, preheat oven to 180 C.
- After simmering, place the pot without lid in the oven. Let simmer for another 30 min. This will thicken the sauce and add some colour to the top.
- Serve rolls with the tomato sauce, non-dairy sour cream, polenta, and/or bread.
Notes
Fermented cabbage: In Romania it is common to ferment whole heads of cabbage and use those leaves for this recipe. Whole fermented cabbage heads can be found in Eastern European grocery stores. Alternately, you can ferment your own which takes some time.
A faster version is to ferment indiviudal, whole cabbage leaves (about 7 days), see separate recipe on veganphysicist.com.
An even faster version is to use fresh cabbage and boil a head in water with salt and spices and maybe some vinegar. Not as flavourful as a long ferment but much faster.