Making another batch of Sarmas

[Walleyehooker]

Ground and mixed up the meat yesterday and rolled them up today and got them cooking. About 100 of them. Also stuffed 4 green peppers.

 

[bobberineyes]

Looks really good walleyehooker, what's all in it?

[Walleyehooker]

Ham pork rice and garlic wraped in sour cabbage.

[ThunderLund78]

You're house must smell AWESOME!!!  Where do you find your sour heads?  Or do you make your own?  I've always wanted to make Sarma but could not find whole leaf sour cabbage.

[RebelSS]

That looks superb.......

[Walleyehooker]

Ya they do smell up the house for a day or so. I buy the sour heads from Bobs produce in Fridley. They can be hard to find but some older smaller markets have them or ask they might be able to order them. They come from Canada and are a little pricey at 2.49 a pound or roughly $10 a head. I used 3 heads to make 100 Sarmas. I posted the recipe in a earlier post on Sarmas if anyone is interested.

[leech~~]

Never heard or tried these. Where are they from? (country)

[Walleyehooker]

Internet say Croatia and other countries make similar ones. More common up north where I grew up we had these a lot. Maybe next year Ill bring some along on the snowmobile ride.

[reinhard1]

That does look very tasty, right up my taste buds.  good luck.

[ThunderLund78]

Yup, a gal I work with goes on an Archaeological dig once every year in Croatia - first time I ever tried Sarma was when she brought some into work after she made a bunch.  She was learning the culture in prep for the dig.  Man are they good.  Sarma is a Croatian word, but its basically stuffed cabbage - similar to lot of german recipes, etc.

[delcecchi]

It seems like some folks use regular cabbage, either frozen or briefly boiled to soften, and others use "sour cabbage" that was fermented in a kraut barrel or brine or something.  Not sure who does what, but recall that what I have eaten and what was shown on a video at ironworld used regular cabbage. 

[Boar]

awsome, sounds delicious!

[perchking]

I am serbian and we had these all the time growing up.  For some reason I recall them being branded in our household as "Pigs in a blanket", no idea why.  We typically had them with a small ladle of red sauce over the top of them.

 

Very good and very filling.

[Walleyehooker]

some people will make these a little cheaper by using regular cabbage. I have not tried it but I have heard if you freeze a head of cabbage for a while when you thaw it out the leaves will be more limp and even smell a little. You could always add sour kraut in for more flavor when you cook them. Going to try it one of these days. Some people also do a red sauce by adding tomatoe soup or tomatoe sauce etc. When I stuff green peppers I pour a can of tomatoe soup over them and bake them. I like it with the green pepper but not so much with sarmas. I guess its how you had them groing up.

Here is a pic of left over stuffed green peppers and Sarmas baged up to freeze.

[RebelSS]

"some people will make these a little cheaper by using regular cabbage"

Uh, is there more than one kind of cabbage? 

[delcecchi]

There be "sour cabbage" in addition to plain or regular cabbage.  Just use it the way it grows or ferment it.  

I always figured the choice was ethnic.  Some countries used plain and others used sour.  But maybe it is just a convenience thing. 

Reinhardt ought to try KimChee cabbage for  Korean-German fusion sarma....

Edited March 7, 2016 by delcecchi

[Walleyehooker]

Ya regular cabbage is pennies a pound and sour heads are $2.49 a pound!!!

[delcecchi]

For that price be worth fermenting your own.   I still like the idea of Kim Chee cabbage leaves..... Nothing wrong with fermented cabbage that some hot peppers and garlic won't help. 

Edited March 7, 2016 by delcecchi

[Walleyehooker]

My family used to make them in wooden barrels in the basement years ago. I make about 3 batches a year so its not to big a deal. I am going to pick up a head of cabbage at the store and freeze it for a while and thaw it out just to see how it is.

[slovene]

Pretty similar to mine, although I go 1/3 ham, pork and beef. Looks like you used a cooking bag?? to line your roaster. What we do is line the sides and bottom of the roaster with the sourhead leaves, then a layer of sarma, sauerkraut (preferably homemade) on top, then another layer of sarma and kraut. Also add small white potatoes at times too.  Sorry, but no tomato juice added to ours, as this was called the "anti-christ". Have also seen it finished with a gravy consisting of the bottom juices and sour cream, with paprika sprinkled on top. These also make a really good sausage, but cut way down on the ham as this has a tendency to dry out the sausage.  Chop the sauerkraut up in the food processor and add.  I use sauerkraut juice in place of added water.  Very yummy!!  Looks good, nice job on making them.  Nice to see the tradition carried on!!

Edited March 8, 2016 by slovene

[Walleyehooker]

these cooking liners work great and they have them for smaller crock pots to. Makes clean up easy.

[slovene]

Ok..10-4!!!  I'm assuming you remove the "veins" of the leaves, leaving you with a nice flat leaf to roll up.  One trick I was taught was to partially freeze the sourhead, then pull of the leaves.  Starting at the core end of the leaf, I use my leech lake knife and run it along the leaf under the vein about an inch making a little tab. Then I grab the tab and proceed to pull off the "veins" all in one piece.  Works pretty slick.  Maybe you have done this.

Edited March 8, 2016 by slovene

[Walleyehooker]

I will cut some of the thicker center stem of the leaf on a few of the first bigger leaves but after that I just use the whole leaf. The sour heads I use are very soft and roll easily. I could be wrong but sounds like you are using fresh cabbage heads ? And not the sour or fermented ones?

[slovene]

Nope, probably using the same sourhead from Canada (Kissel, I believe is the company) as you are.  Just have had some tough veins in the past, especially on the bigger outer leaves, so just out of habit pull them all out. Doesn't take that long. 

[Walleyehooker]

Ya that's the same brand. I always pick threw and buy the medium size ones. Ya the big ones have a big stem and the first leaves are to big but you can trim them and make 2 sarmas out of one. Don't really like to do that and the small ones you don't get many leaves before they start getting to small.