Sarmale, Romanian sauerkraut cabbage rolls

Ingredients

• 4 heads of sauerkraut
• 1 kg ground pork
• 200 g smoked pork fatback
• 3 large onions (450 g)
• 1 medium carrot (100 g)
• 30 ml oil
• 100 g rice
• 150 g tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal
• 6 g dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon hot paprika
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 4 bay leaves
• 150 g pork belly
• 2500 ml water
• 1000 ml hot water for topping up
• 200 g sour cream
• 2 hot peppers

Preparation

1. Separate the cabbage leaves, rinse them and squeeze them dry well. Set aside the leaves that are suitable for rolling, chop the rest, and cut the cores and thick ribs into larger pieces. 2. Finely chop 70 g of smoked pork fatback and mix it with the ground pork. Chop the onion, grate the carrot and sauté them in 30 ml of oil for 8 minutes, until softened. Add the rice, 30 g of tomato paste, salt, pepper and both kinds of paprika, then sauté for another 3 minutes. 3. Mix the sautéed vegetables with the meat, 2 tablespoons of cornmeal and 3 g of dried thyme. 4. Put a spoonful of filling on each leaf and roll up the sarmale. Keep going until you have used all the filling; you’ll get about 40-50, depending on their size. 5. Put the pieces of core and thick cabbage on the bottom of the pot. Cut up the remaining pork fatback, place it on top and add 20 g of tomato paste and 1 g of thyme. 6. Arrange the sarmale around the edge of the pot, leaving space in the middle for the chopped cabbage. Between the layers, add a little of the remaining 100 g of tomato paste, the chopped pork belly, the rest of the thyme and the bay leaves. Cover the sarmale and the middle of the pot with the chopped cabbage. 7. Pour 2500 ml of water over the sarmale and bake at 160°C for 4 hours, until the leaves are tender. If the water level drops, gradually add up to 1000 ml of hot water. As an alternative, simmer them for 2 hours, then bake for 40 minutes. 8. Serve the sarmale with sour cream and hot peppers.