Grandma’s sarmale, Romanian pork cabbage rolls

Name: Grandma’s sarmale, Romanian pork cabbage rolls
Ingredients: 1 kg ground pork; 200 g round-grain rice; 2 medium onions (300 g); 1 bell pepper (150 g); 1 egg; 15 g parsley leaves; 10 g savory; 15 g salt; 2.5 g ground pepper; 5 g Vegeta; 20 g basil; 20 g dill; 2 large cabbages (approx. 3 kg); 250 ml tomato passata; 5000 ml water for blanching; 2500 ml water for cooking

Diverse - Grandma’s sarmale, Romanian pork cabbage rolls by Anisoara C. - Recipia

For Grandma’s sarmale, Romanian pork cabbage rolls, the cabbage is blanched, then the leaves simmer gently with a pork and round-grain rice filling until tender. Basil and dill go into the filling and line the bottom of the pot, too. In these Transylvanian pork and rice sarmale, I really love how the two herbs work together, and you can taste them right through to the last cabbage leaf on your plate. I serve them with polenta and a little sour cream. Preparation: 45 minutes. Cooking: 170 minutes. Resting: 15 minutes. Total time: 230 minutes. Servings: 8. Approximately 500 kcal and 28 g protein per serving.

Ingredients

1 kg ground pork
200 g round-grain rice
2 medium onions (300 g)
1 bell pepper (150 g)
1 egg
15 g parsley leaves
10 g savory
15 g salt
2.5 g ground pepper
5 g Vegeta
20 g basil
20 g dill
2 large cabbages (approx. 3 kg)
250 ml tomato passata
5000 ml water for blanching
2500 ml water for cooking

Preparation

1. Remove the outer leaves and cores from the cabbages. Put one cabbage at a time in a pot of boiling water, blanch each for 10 minutes and peel off the leaves as they soften. 2. Leave the leaves to cool for 15 minutes. In a large bowl, mix the pork, rice, chopped onions and bell pepper, egg, parsley, savory, salt, pepper and Vegeta thoroughly. Add 2/3 each of the dill and basil to the filling, saving 1/3 of each for the bottom of the pot. 3. Arrange the reserved dill and basil on the bottom of a large pot. Put some filling on each leaf and roll up the sarmale, then pack them snugly into the pot. 4. Pour the tomato passata and water over the sarmale, just enough to cover them. Bring the liquid to a boil, then cover and simmer over low heat for 150 minutes, until the leaves and rice are tender.

Notes

You can serve them with polenta and sour cream. Leaves from older cabbages are often tougher and may need extra time; check the ones in the middle of the pot. Choose heads with broad leaves that come off whole and ribs that aren’t too thick. The filling is similar to the one for stuffed peppers, and basil with dill is the detail I love most. If the leaves are small, make shorter sarmale and don’t overfill them. You can make them a day ahead and keep them covered with cooking liquid in the fridge for up to 3 days.