Tag: Romanian

Categories
Dutch Oven Main Dish Quick Prep Soup

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 small head of cabbage, chopped
  • 1 large (28-ounce can) diced tomatoes
  • 1 can (398ml) tomato sauce
  • ¼ cup white vinegar
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1½ tbsp paprika
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1 cup rice, uncooked (or 2 cups cooked)

Directions

  1. Start rice cooking if it is not already cooked.
  2. Brown ground beef and onions then transfer to a pot.
  3. Add cabbage, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, white vinegar, brown sugar, beef broth, paprika, minced garlic, salt and black pepper to the pot and mix.
  4. Bring to a boil then simmer covered on low heat for 20 minutes.
  5. Stir in rice and serve.
Categories
Casserole Dutch Oven Main Dish Side

Sarmale

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • ½ cup long grain rice uncooked
  • 2 lb ground pork or whatever meat you prefer
  • 1 tbsp parsley flakes
  • 1 tsp dill weed
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 pickled cabbage
  • 15 slices bacon chopped (optional)
  • 4 cups tomato juice

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°
  2. Heat the oil in a skillet, add the onions and cook until softened and translucent.
  3. Add the rice and cook for another minute until the rice is starting to brown.
  4. In a large bowl, add the ground pork, salt, pepper, parsley, dill and the onion and rice mixture. Be careful with the salt, not too much is needed because the sour cabbage is already salty. Mix well using your clean hands.
  5. Remove individual leaves from the cabbage. (Probably 14-18 leaves) Trim the thick center stem to allow the leaves to roll easier.
  6. Fill each leaf with 2 tbsp of the meat mixture and roll. Repeat with all the remaining meat and cabbage. If you have any cabbage left over, chop it up and spread it over the bottom of a 9×13 pan.
    Put all the rolls in the pan, add the chopped bacon (if using) in between the cabbage rolls and add the tomato juice over the rolls. Add more water if needed, the juice should cover the cabbage rolls entirely. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or an oven-safe lid.
  7. Place in the oven and bake for 2 hours, remove the foil or lid and place back in the oven and cook for another hour.
Categories
Bases & Stored Food Preparation Side

Pickled cabbage

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup white vinegar
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
  • 1 Head of cabbage

Directions

  1. Mix whatever multiple of sugar, water, vinegar, salt, and seeds will be needed to cover the cabbage.
  2. Bring to a boil to dissolve salt and sugar.
  3. Immerse cabbage in brine and refrigerate for 3 to 7 days
Categories
Main Dish

Cabbage Rolls

Laura and I have been looking for a recipe for this Romanian dish or years. I recently learned that in other countries the “same” dish is often called Sarma and the English term would be stuffed cabbage. Armed with that information I was able to find a variety of recipes to try. I’ll document some resources here and construct a recipe that works for us. I’ll keep it under the Romanian term because that is the one we are trying to replicate and is how we think of the dish even if our final recipe ends up being more generic than the traditional Romanian variety.

Here are links to some existing recipies:

Working Recipe (adapted from from Sarmale 1):

Ingredients

  • 1 whole head cabbage, about 4 pounds
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 finely chopped medium onion
  • 2 minced garlic cloves (1 tsp granulated garlic)
  • 2 ½ cups raw rice
  • 4 cup hot water
  • 1 ½ pounds ground pork (turkey)
  • 2 slices crustless white bread
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 cup sauerkraut juice reserved from drained sauerkraut (¼ cup vinegar)
  • 10 black peppercorns (1 tbsp ground pepper)

Directions

  1. Remove core from cabbage. Place whole head in a large pot filled with boiling, salted water. Cover and cook 3 minutes, or until softened enough to pull off individual leaves. Place the cabbage had back in the water to soften inner leaves after removing the softened ones from the outside. You will need about 18 leaves.
  2. When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through. Chop any remaining cabbage and set aside.
  3. In a large skillet, saute chopped onion, garlic and rice in 3 tablespoons olive oil, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent. Add hot water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 5 minutes or until rice has absorbed all the water. Let cool.
  4. Place pork in a large bowl. Quickly dip bread in water, squeeze to remove excess water and add to meat along with onion-garlic-rice mixture, combining thoroughly. Add dill, thyme, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons water. Mix completely but lightly so as not to toughen the meat.
  5. In a medium bowl, mix 3 cups water with vinegar, remaining chopped cabbage from step 2 and set aside.
  6. Place about ¼ – ⅓ cup of meat mixture on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the meat. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an envelope. Once again, roll away from you to create a neat little roll.
  7. Using 2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil, coat a large, lidded Dutch oven or casserole dish.
  8. Cover with a layer of stuffed cabbages. Pour sauerkraut juice-water mixture over all.
  9. Heat oven to 375° Transfer to oven and cook 1 ½ hours. Then add sliced tomatoes, cover and cook another 45 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking another 15 minutes.