My Grame made Sarma on a regular basis. She was born in Chabar (now Yugoslavia) & is Croatian. She has been gone for quite some time but her recipe's live long and prosper. She did not freeze the kraut or cabbage and only used ground beff. Always used fresh garlic onion and bell pepper and also lined the cook pot with pork spare ribs. All ingredients with the exception of the rolls cooked for at least 2 hours to marry the flavors before adding the rolls. If she did not make fresh kraut she always thoroughly rinsed it so it would not overpower the dish. It was served best with either mashed potatoes or corn meal mush (Polenta). Jane (Evanca)
Usually for sarma you use a sour cabbage but since I didn't have one I added about 4 tbsp of vinegar to the water that I blanched the cabbage in. I also added chopped bacon to this recipe. I fried the onion and bacon together and then added to the other ingredients. Absolutely love these. I also did these in the oven instead of stove top. they turned out really well. thanks
Great recipe!! As suggested I parboiled the cabbage head with a bit of vinegar instead of freezing. I sauteed the onion with fresh minced garlic before adding to ground beef/pork mixture and also added vegeta seasoning. They turned out perfectly my husband and I could not stop eating them!!
I love Sarma. This recipe is pretty good my mother in law uses barley instead of rice. Just a note the poster who said that this is mostly made in Romania is wrong. Sarma is made in Croatia Bosnia and pretty much all of the former Yugoslavia. I'm sure Romania has their own version or at least it has a different name than "our" sarma.:)
Great eastern european sarma recipe!! Thank you. I changed it a bit by leaving out the ham and adding a kilbasa to the pot as it cooked. Came out wonderful.
My grandmother who was ethnic German Danauschwaben from Semln made Serbian Sarma. A family favorite of ours. She added a little dill or marjoram one or the other and used straight pork no beef. We always serve sarma with thin sliced salted cucumbers with garlic black pepper fresh dill a little vinegar and sour cream and fresh rye bread with sweet butter
Elderly neighbors and best friend loved it and requested more! Changes: followed other reviews' advice and parboiled the cabbage rather than freezing it. I only used ground beef, a little ham, & onion powder. Next time I will triple the tomato juice because it dries out in the oven (left it in the oven because I was working in the yard). I fried some bacon, chopped onions and sprinkled a little brown sugar on it; then mixed it into the meat and rice mixture. Thanks Bea and other reviewers for generous advice.
This sarma is called sarmale and it is made mostly in Romania.
This ethnic recipe is awesome! I just used ground beef and put ham hocks in the slow cooker! I didn't add the tomato! The key thing is to improvise! But the slow cooker is a miracle!
I love Sarma we make sarmas a lot at home and Dolma's I made the Turkish way similar recipe but I like the Turkish way better.
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