Sarmale

By Olivia Jifcovici, Bucharest, Romania

Sarmales are spheres of chopped meat mixed with rice, salt, pepper and onion according to each taste. They are covered in leafs of salad vine or cabbage. If the cabbage is pickled the leaves are elastic and they cover easily the mix if not they must be poured onto with boiling water so that they get more easily used.

The sarmale with cabbage.

Ingredients:

1 pickled cabbage middle sized

750 g meat (pork, lamb, or chicken)

1 onion

125 g rice, boiled and cooled

Pepper, salt, curry

3 spoons of tomato paste for the gravy.

With this mix of meat and rice you can also fill peppers, tomatoes or zucchini (the middle of the vegetable has been removed). On the bottom of the pan in which one cooks there is some oil and then one layer of chopped cabbage. Upon which are put the sarmale. Each layer of sarmale is separated with chopped cabbage and the whole is covered by 2 leafs of cabbage. Then you pour water mixed with the tomato paste and a bit of salt and you can add piper and other spices that mix well with cabbage.

All is put on the stove top and left to boil about 15 min after which it is put in the oven.

Attention it can overflow. The test to know when it`s ready is when the cabbage is soft.