Sarma - Sauerkraut Rolls

Sour Cabbage (Sauerkraut) is very popular food in many European countries. Preserving of whole heads (or shredded) cabbages is simple, doesn't use chemicals and is natural way to lock-in goodness of vegetables. (Watch next post for this process.)
Sarma (cabbage rolls) is made with leaves of Sauerkraut, and is most desirable winter food in Balkan countries.
Be very careful about salting your food that contains Sauerkraut; many ready bought cabbages contain a lot of salt, and need to be rinsed before using in a recipe.

Ingredients:
750 g mince (half beef, half pork gives best results)
2 tbs oil
2 med onions, chopped
2 tbs paprika, smoked preferably
1/2 tbs black pepper, grinded
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs Vegeta
1 small bunch parsley leaves, chopped
1 cup short grain rice
1 head of sauerkraut ('sour' cabbage)
bits and pieces of smoked meat ( hooks / speck / meat),optional
for finishing- 2 tbs oil, 1,5-2 tbs flour, 1 tbs paprika
Salt if needed
Method:
Prepare cabbage leaves; pull each leaf apart, cut large leaves into 2. Make sure to cut and discard hard and thick central cores - see photo down.
Place all other ingredients (except 'for finishing')into a large bowl. Mix well. Take a handful of this mixture, place on a (halved) leave and roll. Push the other end of roll to secure filling - see pictures.
Place finished rolls into a large pot. If you don't have non-stick pot, placing some cabbage offcuts will prevent burning and sticking sarma to the bottom. In between rolls put some smoked products (optional), as this will give smoky flavor to Sarma.
When all finished, cover sarma with an upside -down plate (should fit into the pot) and fill with water (just above the plate). Cover with lid and bring slowly to boil. Simmer for 1,5-2 hours.
Sarma will rise; add more hot water if necessary. Check if salt needed.
Finishing- Heat oil in a small pot, add flour and cook until slightly golden. Take away from heat, put paprika and then pour some water from large pot with sarma. It's best to prepare 1 cup of cooking water before you start cooking flour, as you need to pour water into finishing sauce at once, and stir vigorously. Pour this sauce back into large pot with sarma and let it boil once more.
Sarma is best 2-3 days later after cooking.

Preparing large leaves


Rolling


Finishing other side


Placing SARMA into cooking dish


SARMA

Vjerujem da svi mi imamo neke svoje recepte za Sarmu, koje cemo da prenesemo na sljedecu generaciju. Ovako je ja pravim-

Potrebno:
750 gr mljevenog mesa (najbolje pola govedine, pola svinjetine)
2 srednja crvena luka, sjeckana
2 K ulja
2 K paprike, dimljene ako imate
1/2 K crnog bibera, mljevenog
2 cena bijelog luka, sitno sjeckanog
1 K Vegete, ili slicno
1 manja vezica persunovog lisca, sjeckana
1 solja rize sa kracim zrnom
1 glavica kiselog kupusa
malo dimljenih proizvoda (po zelji)
za 'zaprsku'-2 K ulja, 1,5-2 K brasna, 1 K paprike

Nacin:
Pripremite listove kupusa; Odrezite zile iz sredine, velike listove prepolovite.
Pazite da vam kupus nije preslan - isperite ako je tako.
Umijesajte sve sastojke (osim za zaprsku). Stavite saku mjesavine na svaki list i zarolajte; zatim gurnite visak lista sa druge strane (slike).
Stavite sarmu na red ruznih / neupotrebljivih listova kupusa. Izmedju redova sarme stavite malo dimljenih proizvoda; ovo ce dati specifican miris sarmi. Kada zavrsite sa filovanjem, pokrijte sarmu preokrenitim tanjirem, pa nalijte vodom (samo da ogrezne). Poklopite serpu / lonac. Stavite na ringlu i dovedite do kljucanja. Krckajte 1,5-2 sata. Dolijte jos vrele vode ako je neophodno.
Zaprska- zagrijte ulje, proprzite brasno. Smaknite sa ringle, dodajte papriku i zalijte sa vodom iz sarme; promijesajte dobro i vratite u serpu sa sarmom. Prokljucajte jos jednom.
Sarma je bolja drugi ili treci dan od kuhanja.