Romanian traditional foodpickled cabbage rolls (sarmale)

Recipe:For sarmale you need one large pickled cabbage, 1kg ground meat (pork), 2 large onions (finely chopped), 50 grams rice, lard, 5 tomatoes (or a can of pealed tomatoes – I do not recommend ready-made tomato sauce), four-five slices of smoked bacon, salt, pepper, water.

Procedure:Fry the onion in lard till it gets gold brown, then mix it in a bowl with the meat, rice, salt and pepper. Caution with the salt: sour cabbage is already salty and too much salt in the meat mixture could ruin your meal.

-Carefully remove the cabbage leaves one by one, paying attention not to tear them.

-Depending on how big your cabbage is you need whole leaves or halves to make the rolls. Remove cabbage core – it is hard to roll the meat mixture if you don’t.

-In a deep pot place the rolls in concentric layers. Cover with a layer of chopped cabbage, then pour the tomatoes (chopped as well). Place one-two bacon slices randomly among the rolls. The bacon will give a special taste and aroma to the whole dish. Repeat this till all rolls are set in the pot.

-The last layer is whole cabbage leaves and tomatoes. Add water to slightly cover the last layer of cabbage. Place on stove, bring to boil, and then reduce heat to low and continue boiling for at least four hours. Serve hot, with polenta and sour cream.

Pofta buna!

Good appetite!