The Essay

One traditional recipe from my region

Student:
Aleksa Mitrović

Sofia, Septembar 18, 2016

HRC Culinary Academy

9 Petar Beron Street, Sofia 1142 Bulgaria
Phone +359 (0) 2 426 02 58
info@hrcacademy.com, www.hrcacademy.com
Contents:

1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3

1.1 INGREDIENTS: 3
1.2 SAUER CABBAGE LEAVES FOR SARMA 3
1.3 SARMA FILLING PREPARATION 3
1.4 WRAPPING OF SARMA 4
1.5 SARMA IN THE POT 4
2 Sarma on the table........................................................................................................................5

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1 Introduction

Sarma is a traditional dish, very popular in Balkan countries - from former Yugoslavia’s
countries to Bulgaria, Romania, Greece… The Origin of Sarma is in the Ottoman Empire and
the name comes from the Turkish verb Sarmak which means ”to wrap”.
Sarma can be made of grape leaves, cabbage, leaves of greens, and in Serbia, we
prepare Sarma with Sauer cabbage leaves1.

1.1 INGREDIENTS:
- 1 big head of Sauer cabbage (with about 20 leaves)
- 600g of minced beef meat
- 2 coffee cups of white rice
- 1 whole garlic
- 200g of smoked pork ribs
- 100g of smoked bacon
- Spices: salt, vegetable seasoning, finely minced red paprika, pepper
- Optional additions: onion, grated carrot, basil, oregano.

1.2 SAUER CABBAGE LEAVES FOR SARMA

It’s best to use soft and elastic leaves. Thicker

parts of the leaf should be carefully removed so Sarma
is easier for shaping. Leaves should be washed with
cold water and left to drain andthus slightly alleviate
acidity of Sauer cabbage.

1.3 SARMA FILLING PREPARATION

Stew 600g delicately minced beef, preferably
from the chuck, on hot grease untilit gets pinkish or
gray in color. Add about 20g of grounded black pepper,
half of tablespoon of vegetable seasoning and one
tablespoon of finely minced red paprika. Stir fry and
then take it off the fire and put in two coffee cups of
washed rice. The stuffing for Sarma is ready.

1
Cabbage heads with no root that are put intoa barrel, and then soaked in a solution of water and salt. Depending
on the temperature, the cabbage will become sauer in about 20-30 days. It has a long shelf life and a
distinctive sour flavor, both of which come from the lactic acid that forms when the bacteria ferment the sugars
in the cabbage.

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 The Chefs from the Mediterranean countries add a plenty of basil or oregano in Sarma
filling which significantly changes the taste. Also, some of them use thinly chopped onions
and carrots, which then gives a kind of sweetness to Sarma and reduces the meat flavor.

1.4 WRAPPING OF SARMA

Wrapping of Sarma is an unsolvable enigma for some
people. But it is not so hard, you just have to put cleaned
and washed Sauer cabbage leaf into the palm of your hand,
and then put a tablespoon of the Sarma filling in the middle
of it.Wrap the tip of the leaf towards the meat and roll once, then
fold the ends of the leaf inward and continue with the
wrapping to the end of the leaf. Although it looks a little
flimsy - it is not, because as soon as the rice swells from
cooking, it creates internal pressure which keeps
everything together.2

1.5 SARMA IN THE POT

For Sarma it is the best to use a crock – a pot of baked clay, but if you do not have one,
you can use a deeper and larger pot in which you caneasily put Sarma and its additions.

Put 4-5 unused leaves of Sauer cabbage

at the bottom of the pot and sprinkle them
with cut bacon, mashed garlic, few
peppercorns and bay leaf. Now it’s time to lay
the Sarma - first around the edge of the pot,
and then further towards the center, until it
covers the bottom, forming the first layer.
Then put smoked meat and smoked pork ribs,
cut in 2x5cm pieces, over it. Lay another row
of Sarma, covering it with garlic, bacon, dry
ribs and Sarma again afterwards. Finally,
cover it with 4-5 leaves of Sauer cabbage.

Pour cold water in the pot until it covers the Sarma, and start cooking. Rice will quickly
absorb the grease from the bacon and ribs, as well as the water, so you have to pour water
from time to time but now it has to be lukewarm.

2 Sarma on the table

Sarma needs to be simmering slowly on the stove on low heat for 3-4 hours and then it
is ready to serve.
2
When you put Sarma in the pot, be sure that you put it on the upper side, because that way it won’t cause the
leaves to unroll during cooking.

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 Sarma is a very caloric dish, it is eaten hot, and Serbs usually serve sour milk and
3
Proja as a side dish.

This dish is usually prepared and served on the holidays - Christmas, New Year, Easter,
birthdays, family patron saint's day (Slava) etc.

Have a nice meal!

3
A Traditional Serbian appetizer - a sort of authentic corn bread, made from 3 very simple ingredients: gruffly
minced corn flour, grease and water.

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