Sarma: Best Traditional Balkan Stuffed Sour Cabbage Rolls - Balkan Lunch Box (2024)

Sarma (traditional stuffed sour cabbage rolls), is possibly the best Balkan dish.Think tender, smoked, and ground meats mixed with rice and seasonings, lovingly wrapped in fermented cabbage, and then simmered for hours. The result is a flavorful, aromatic, and simply unforgettable dish. Let's do sarma together, shall we?

Background

Where Balkan food is concerned, sarma undisputably holds the “Queen of Winter” title. In this region, it’s not the cold that announces its arrival, but a pot full of soul-warming stuffed sour cabbage rolls on the dinner table.

Stuffed cabbage is a delicacy made by stuffing cabbage leaves with a filling of meat, rice, and seasonings. Surrounded by pieces of smoked meat, the rolls are layered and simmered until aromas and flavors embrace.

I'll venture a guess that like many dishes, stuffed cabbage, or sarma, came over with the Ottomans. In the Balkans, sarma is prepared across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Slovenia.

(We’ll address slight sarma regional variations.)

But then, you’ll also find stuffed cabbage in many other European cuisines. After Balkan sarma, Polish golumpki and German kohlrouladen come to mind as some of the best.

What takes Balkan stuffed cabbage rolls to the next level is one ingredient that's used not exclusively, but almost always: fermented (or pickled/ sour) cabbage leaves. As far as we're concerned, without sour cabbage, this dish might as well not exist.

• IMPORTANT: We write recipes as succinctly as possible on BLB. However, some dishes require and deserve more! Sarma is one of them.

  If you're impatient (no judgment here!) jump straight to the recipe card for stuffed cabbage below. However, if you want the best tips and techniques for making sour stuffed cabbage, keep on reading.

Ingredients

Stuffing ingredients for sarma:

Cabbage:

• The best stuffed cabbage rolls are made with fermented (picked or sour) cabbage leaves. Sarma tanginess and specifically yummy taste come in great part from the acidity caused by fermentation.

  Not all fermented cabbage is the same!

  Some heads will be too salty, some not salty enough. Some will have tougher leaves (cook them longer!), while other leaves will fall apart (best to pick another head). If you find the brand you like, keep buying the same kind.

  As sarma is tastiest when it's small, you'll be cutting each leaf into two, or three pieces and then stuff them.

  If, by some stroke of bad luck, you get convinced into making stuffed cabbage rolls from fresh cabbage, blanch the leaves first.

Meat:

• The type of meat is where regional variations come into play. (What follows are generalizations! In the Balkans dishes are prepared differently within families, let alone towns, regions, and countries.)

  For example, stuffed cabbage rolls you'll eat in Bosnia will be either non-pork (ground beef, veal, on rare occasions lamb too, etc.) or pork rolls, as the population is a mix of Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians.

  On the other hand, in Serbia, with a mostly Orthodox Christian population, you're most likely to encounter cabbage rolls made with pork (usually bacon, ham, ham hock, and/ or ribs).

  Although not as prevalent, vegetarian sarma options are available. In this case, meat is exchanged with additional seasonings and grains.

  Best sarmas have meat in both, stuffing and stew. However, some people avoid putting meat in the stew as there is already enough meat in stuffed cabbage rolls themselves.

Stuffing meat:

• Ground beef, ground veal, and ground pork are the best choices (or a mix thereof). Although not as frequently used, ground lamb or ground mutton also work. Some add minced smoked beef, smoked ham, or bacon to the mix. Avoid: ground poultry as the meat is too dry, or mix it with meat with higher fat content.

Stew meat:

• Choose from smoked beef, smoked ham, bacon, ham hock, and/or ribs.

Roux ingredients for sarma:

• Tomato paste: any tomato paste works, but add more water. Sub with tomato sauce.

• Flour: white flour is best.

• Oil: sunflower, vegetable, coconut oil, as well as butter, ghee, and bacon grease all work. Avoid: olive oil.

Remaining ingredients:

• Rice: as rice has the role of softening the meat, round white rice is the best. Sub with cauliflower rice for the low-carb option. Avoid: long-grain, integral, or brown rice.
  
• Herbs: parsley. The dish is more than flavorful. Keep the herbs simple.
  
• Milk: optionally added to soften the meat.
  
• Onions: very finely diced.
  
• Garlic: minced. Sub with garlic powder.
  
• Seasonings: salt and pepper.
  
• Water/ broth: liquids should, slowly, be replenished during simmering. Keep the stew level about the thickness (an inch) of a finger above the rolls.
  
• (Optional) Sour cream: some like to add a dollop of sour cream on top of cabbage rolls when they're served. This lightens the taste.

Instructions

Here are the quick instructions for stuffed sour cabbage.

Step 1. Combine all filling ingredients and mix well until integrated.
Step 2. Separate cabbage leaves from the head, and dip each in water to wash off excess sourness.

Step 3. On a cutting board cut each cabbage leaf in half, cut out the "vein" and if the leaves are big, continue cutting into four pieces.

Step 4. Place one leaf piece in your hand, and one tablespoon of the filling in the middle toward the edge of the leaf. Fold the longer leaf end on one side, then roll everything up. Tuck the other side of the leaf in. You'll have a tiny "burrito-like" roll. Continue with the remaining ingredients.

Step 6. Dice the cabbage leaf veins and set aside.

Step 7. Heat oil, and whisk in the flour. After the roux is made add tomato paste (or sauce) and water. Whisk vigorously.

Step 8. Place one layer of rolls on the bottom. Follow with meat. Follow meat with diced cabbage. Repeat layers in that order until you run out of ingredients. Cover with water one inch above the last layer. Cook 3 hours.

Handling

Serving:Put several sarmas in a serving bowl, and top with one or two ladles of stew. How many sarmas to serve will depend on the eater. Some eat 1-2, some up to 7-8. Optionally, add a dollop of sour cream on top.

Assembly:You can assemble sarma the night before and then cook them the following day. Keep assembled sarma in the fridge.

Storing: Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Reheating: The best way to reheat it is on the stovetop, on low, for at least 15 minutes, (or until it's hot). Add a little bit of water to the stew if it's too thick, or it's running low. Important: only reheat as many sour cabbage rolls as you plan on eating. Do not reheat the entire pot of sarma unless you'll eat everything! Otherwise, you'll have to throw it away, as sarma should never be reheated twice.

Freezing: It's a long process to make them, so it's understandable you may want to freeze some of your sour cabbage rolls. You have two options:

1. Wait for cabbage rolls to cool down completely after they're cooked. Place in freezer ware. Freeze for up to 3 months. Transfer to the fridge the night before you plan to eat them. Add a little bit of water. Reheat by following the directions above.

2. Place cabbage rolls into freezer ware right after you stuff them, but before cooking. Freeze for up to 3 months. Transfer to the fridge the night before you plan to cook them. Cook by following the recipe card directions.

Personal tip: we almost always go with option 2.

Expert Tips

• Prep ahead! As it takes a long time to make, and it tastes amazing the following day, sarma is best when prepared the night ahead. Wait for it to cool down and reheat following the instructions above.
  
• Layering: When layering sarma in the pot, you can also put one or two cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pan after you make the roux, but before layering sarma rolls.
  
• Handle with care! Before stuffing, wash cabbage leaves slightly and fast. You want some of the sourness and salt to be washed off, but only a little bit. Fermented cabbage is the reason why these rolls are so incredibly tasty.
  
• Size matters! The smaller the sarma cabbage rolls are, the tastier they are. Don't let anyone convince you differently! Cut each cabbage leaf into at least two pieces, sometimes three, and if the leaves are very big, even four. But find the balance! Don't go overboard! If you cut them too small you won't be able to stuff the pieces.
  
• Use your hands! For the best taste, mix the stuffing with your hands so that the ingredients are mixed evenly and consistently.
  
• But also, watch those hands! Latex gloves are your friend while stuffing the rolls due to the acidity. If you don't like gloves, have a bowl of water nearby where you can dip your hands every now and then as you're stuffing the rolls.

Recipe FAQs

More Recipes

Check out our selection of other stuffed veggies recipes on the site:

• Stuffed Zucchini
• Baked Stuffed Peppers
• Potato Stuffed Peppers
• Baked Stuffed Eggplant
• Dolma Collection: Stuffed Onion, Stuffed Swiss Chard, Stuffed Tomatoes

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Prijatno and bon appetit!