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Sarma

Author: Christopher Kosovich

Ingredients

  • 1 head cabbage 4 to 5 lbs.
  • 2 lbs. ground beef
  • 1 lb. ground pork
  • 2/3 cup uncooked rice
  • 5 onions chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 lb. bacon
  • 1 No. 2 1/2 can kraut (32 oz.)
  • 1 can tomato sauce with bits
  • 1 small can Hunt's tomato sauce
  • 2 lb. smoked ribs or smoked shanks or bacon
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1 Tbsp. paprika

Instructions

  • Carefully remove leaves from the head of cabbage.
  • Parboil, if head is not sour, cut off the hard back without damaging leaf.
  • Cut bacon in small pieces; fry bacon and onions; simmer.
  • Add garlic.
  • Put ground meat in bowl; add bacon, onions, rice, salt, pepper, and paprika.
  • Mix in 1 cup of water to soften meat mixture.
  • Chop 2 cloves of fresh garlic fine and add to meat mixture.
  • Take one leaf of cabbage and place 2 Tbsp. meat mixture in center.
  • Roll up and fold in one end; tuck the other side in to hold in place.
  • In the bottom of roaster, make a layer of kraut.
  • Then add a layer of cabbage rolls.
  • Alternate rows of cabbage rolls, smoked meat, and kraut, finishing with kraut.
  • Top with tomato sauces.
  • Cover with water; loosen edges so water gets down edge.
  • Cover entire top with excess cabbage leaves to prevent top from burning.
  • Heat oven to 350.
  • Cover with foil and bake 1 hour.
  • Reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 2 more hours.
  • Let sit 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

This recipe is from the St. Sava cook book and was originally submitted by Milica Milojevich.
Some minor adjustments have been added/clarified from the original recipe.
Grandma Mildred Kosovich wrote in her book to partially cook rice before using. I skipped this pre-cooking step and things still turned out ok though so it is optional.