Sarma (Stuffed Cabbage)

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!

This recipe is excellent. I was looking for a recipe like the one my Polish aunt makes, and this one looked just right. I boiled my cabbage leaves in salted water with vinegar added, as some posters suggested. The recipe came together easily - the only time consuming part was getting out my meat grinder for the ham. I will definitely be making these again!

My family is Serbian and has been using an old family recipe for years. Recently, I misplaced the recipe and couldn't get ahold of my aunt . . . this recipe is identical to our traditional recipe, minus the tomatoes. When I make it, I don't use the tomatoes, but it is delicious either way!

I thought it was very tasty and simple to prepare. But plan ahead as it takes time to cook. We did it in the crock pot and let it cook all day

This is one of my favorite dishes, but I doing it differently. I use 1 lb ground lamb, 1 cup Arborio rice, diced garlic, paprika. Mix it thoroughly. Separate the cabbage leaves (this uses about 2 heads) in whatever way works best for you. Pare the thick vein. Put a spoonful of the lamb mixture in the center of the leaf. Fold and roll. Place in a stock pot with chicken broth. There should be enough stock to go to the top of the rolls. Cover & boil. Turn down to simmer for about 3 hours. 1 tablespoon of sour cream goes on top of one cabbage roll. Good leftovers, too.

Tasted just like my Polish grandma used to make. Delicious! Don't skip freezing the cabbage or leaves will tear when you wrap the mixture.

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.

I am friends with Ruth..I love this..This one is a KEEPER. Thanks for Sharing..:-)

My husband liked this better than I did...but then his Mom used to make cabbage rolls. Because there are only the two of us to feed, I always cut back recipes. For this reason, I left out the rice, and mixed together 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 of a polish sausage and added the seasonings as given in recipe. I have to say it looked and tasted like an old-world recipe! Thx Bea...

This was super yummy. I couldn't find any ground ham so I just used ground beef and pork. I used a few garlic cloves instead of powder. I also added a ham hock to the pot. It came out delicious! oooh and there is an ethnic grocery store in my neighborhood so I just bought picked whole cabbage leaves which added great flavor and saved me a lot of work!

This was soooo good! I parboiled the cabbage to make leaves pliable. Substituted 1 lb turkey sausage for ham and pork. Layered in my crockpot cooked on high for one hour and 5 more hours on low. It is the best I've had!

I add Vegeta and sometimes use grape leaves instead of cabbage when cabbage isn't in season. Instead of garlic powder, I use real garlic. Then I slice tomatoes to place on each layer and not use the tomato juice.

This is the most delicious meal. My mom makes it for christmas every year and I request it for my birthday every year.

I'm so glad I found this recipe. My mother-in-law had taught me how to do them, but I had forgot. I made my rolls with just ground beef and I added tomato sauce and some spaghetti sauce. My husband loved them!!!..I will be making them again tonight.

My Grandmother who was born and raised in Croatia made Sarma for us on special occasions. After I married I introduced Sarma to my husband who instantly loved it. When I ask him what would he like for dinner he often says "SARMA"... This is not a Serbian or Romanian recipe as some have said it is. There may be some variations that Serbs and Romanians would use, but this recipe is definitely Croatian.

This was a fantastic recipe. I cooked it for my husband and he was over the moon - even said it was better than his mums!! I just added some rashers of bacon laid on the top of each roll while they were cooking. Thanks!

I love to make Sarma when it gets cold in Minnesota. The only change I made to the recipe is instead of tomato juice I use spicy v8, it gives it a little kick & more flavor. My family & friends love it.

First off thank you for sharing this recipe! My wife is Croatian, lost her mother about 20 years ago. Her father would make this often and was comfort food for her. Unfortunately a few months back her Dad suffer a stoke, and is unable to communicate or look after herself. I made this tonight, for my wife, which she absolutely loved. It was so emotional eating this meal, she was cry tears of joy with every bite. I followed the recipe exactly, I just omitted the tomato juice. (For I don’t recall her father ever having tomato in his). Thank you once again for sharing this recipe.

This was not bad but the sour-kraut over powered the dish for us. I don't like rice with my ground beef so I used orzo, the filling was great.

good, but how long can this keep before eating?

I love this stuff.

My family and I loved this recipe! I followed the recipe mostly. I substituted V8 juice for the tomato juice because that’s what I had. I also just finely chopped ham rather than grinding ham.

I have been looking for a Sarma recipe ever since I had it in a restaurant in Salzburg. its been a lot of years but I think the restaurant was Hungarian. I remember the tomato sauce over the top and there was sour cream on it. I loved it. Does anyone know how to make it the Hungarian way? Is there a Hungarian version?

Try adding 1 tablespoon of ground cumin to the meat and a little to the sauce gives it a great flavor

Great!

This is almost exactly the same as my grandma’s Serbian sarma recipe, too, although she didn’t add ham (will have to try this someday). She used only ground beef (I tried lean once and the meat was too hard, less flavorful, I only use 20% now) and ground pork sausage. She also didn’t freeze the cabbage first. I think I read somewhere that freezing it makes working with the cabbage easier? I’ll have to Google that one. I just boil a whole fresh cabbage and let the leaves fall off naturally.

I loved when my mother made stuffed cabbage. This is the easiest recipe I have seen. I always double the recipe to have leftovers. Freezing the cabbage makes life so much easier.

Absolutely outstanding…

There is way too much rice in this recipe.