Easy Cabbage Rolls (Sarma)

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This easy and comforting dish is a crockpot classic! But it can also be made in any pot too. This recipe was passed down to me from my mother, who was taught the recipe from my Maltese Grandmother in the 80s. This dish is made in countries all over Europe, and is also made with fermented cabbage, however, this version of the dish only requires frozen cabbage, which is super easy if you are restricted on time or can’t buy fermented cabbage in your area, and makes the cabbage an absolute breeze to roll!

Ingredients:

1 large cabbage, boiled for 10 minutes and cored or frozen for 24hrs, then defrosted, peeled then cored to remove hard line.

Meat filling:

1kg minced steak
1 piece of smoked pork, finely chopped (I couldn’t get any, so subbed for prosciutto)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp sweet paprika
2 flat teaspoons of salt, 1/2 tsp of white pepper
1/2 cup of uncooked rice
1 egg

Sauce;
2 tins of tomato puree
2-4 cups of water

Thickener;
1 onion
Butter and oil for frying
1/4 cup of flour to thicken
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp of sweet paprika

Method:

Cook diced onion, garlic and spices in a pan with olive oil. Fry until aromatic and set aside.

In a bowl, add all of your meat for filling, as well as your fried onion, garlic, spice mixture, your raw rice (washed) and 1 egg for binding.

Mix together until combined and set aside.

Peel off a leaf of frozen but defrosted cabbage, and place spoonfuls of meat towards bottom of cabbage leaf. Fold over each side, from left to right, then fold the bottom of the leaf over the top and roll until completely covered. Repeat until your meat mixture is gone.

Line your crockpot (or pot) with leftover cabbage leaves, place cabbage rolls that have been filled with the meat filling in crockpot, pour over passata and water (hot, preferrably).

Cover and cook on high for 3h 30min if in crockpot. (If in regular pot, you may need to cook for only an 1h 30min, keep an eye on them.)

While cooking, make your thickener for sauce, and set aside. Once cabbage rolls have been cooking in crockpot for 3h 30min or 1h 30 min in regular small pot, add in your thickener and gently mix between rolls. Cover again and cook for another 30 mins.

Serve over mash potato with a side of beans and enjoy! :)

With love,

Tara x