Page 46 - Fall2013

SARMALE: A TRADITIONAL ROMANIAN RECIPE

The smell of sarmale over the Carpathian Mountains is an aroma to die for! The sarma (plural: sarmale), a word
of Arabic-Turkish origin, refers to a Balkan dish of grape leaves stuffed with rice and raisins. In the Carpathians the
sarma is transformed by magnificent and heavy Daco-Roman meanings. At Christmas it is a major component of the
Romanian Orthodox Christian ritual, which makes it strange and distant from its original formula.

LEAvEs:
2 pickled whole white cabbages (sauerkraut)

FILLINg:
2 pounds pastured ground pork (or a mix of pork and beef)
3 organic carrots
2-3 tablespoons organic tomato paste
1 chili pepper (optional)
1 cup of organic brown rice (preferably sprouted)
1/2 glass organic wine
1 large onion
a mix of fresh herbs like dill, thyme and parsley
salt and pepper to taste

sAuCE:
lard
bacon
1 glass organic white wine
3 tomatoes in sauce
1 cup tomato paste
thyme, dill, bay leaves, paprika, pepper, salt (optional, since the sauerkraut is salty already)

step 1: Tend to the cabbage: loosen and carefully separate the leaves, rinse, remove the hard and thick veins. Whatever
is unsuitable for filling, chop fine.

step 2: Rinse the rice well. Chop the onion and herbs (and the chili pepper if your guests can stomach it!), grate the
carrots. Mix everything together: rinsed rice, ground meat, onion, carrots, herbs, rice, tomato paste, half glass wine,
herbs, salt (not too much, the sauerkraut is salty already) and pepper.
step 3: Fill the leaves, roll them, and close the ends (not too tightly, because the rice will swell). You can make them
larger or smaller, depending on how you like them and how skilled you are. The main thing is for them not to come
undone as they boil.

step 4: grease a thick earthenware pot with lard. A cast iron pot or a crockpot works fine as well. Arrange cabbage
leaves on the bottom, a layer of chopped cabbage and some bacon pieces. Now comes the first layer of sarmale, fol-
lowed by another layer of chopped cabbage, sprinkled with tomato paste, then sarmale, until the pot is full.

step 5: The last layer is chopped cabbage sprinkled with bay leaves, chopped thyme and dill, some pepper and paprika
to taste, pieces of bacon and slices of tomato from the sauce.

step 6: Mix the tomato sauce with the remaining wine, heat it a little, and pour it over the sarmale. Cover and cook
it on low heat, but not directly over a flame, so that it will simmer and bubble for at least five hours. The juice should
reduce by about half, or even two thirds.

step 7: serve hot with sour cream, polenta (mamaliga) and a very good wine, if desired.

For more traditional Romanian recipes please visit www.guide2health.net and download the recipe e-book from the
homepage.

44 Wise Traditions FALL 2013 FALL 2013 Wise Traditions

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