Cabbage Rolls in Yogurt Sauce (Sarmi)
Sarmi is a Bulgarian dish of stuffed cabbage leaves, which shows significant Greek influences. For a gathering you may wish to consider presenting these somewhat 'white' rolls side-by-side with a dish of cabbage rolls in tomato sauce (see Cabbage Rolls in Tomato Sauce (Holubtsi)).
Ingredients
- 500 g (about 1 ⅛ lb) minced (ground) veal or beef
- 300 g (about ¾ lb) minced (ground) pork
- 1 bunch of spring onions
- ½ cup uncooked rice
- 1 cup yogurt
- Parsley
- Mint
- Paprika (optional)
- Pepper
- 30–40 grape or cabbage leaves (depending on the size, a substantially smaller number of leaves may be needed)
- 100 g butter or ½ cup sunflower oil
- Salt
Method
- Boil the vine or cabbage leaves in salted water until they look cooked and are just bendable enough to roll. Drain and allow to cool during the following steps.
- Lightly fry the finely chopped onions in a small amount of oil, and stir in a teaspoon or more of paprika.
- Add the meat, rice, pepper, mint, and finely chopped parsley, then cook until the meat looks almost done.
- Add ¾ cup of water, bring to a boil, then immediately cover and reduce heat to a bare minimum for 10 minutes, until the water is absorbed by the rice. Uncover and fluff as needed with a small spatula or spoon. Allow to cool to handling temperature.
- Put 1 teaspoon of the meat mixture on each leaf and make into a rolled, fully enclosed, package, similar to a small egg roll. A bit more filling can be used if you are using large cabbage leaves, but try to make all the rolls somewhat uniform in size.
- Arrange the rolls in a saucepan, add 1½ cups of warm water, cover, and simmer gently over low heat.
- In the meantime, mix the yogurt with a bit of paprika for color (or omit if you wish to keep the dish somewhat white in color), and other spices as you desire.
- When rolls are done, allow to cool a bit, gently transfer to a dish, and add the yogurt mixture to coat.
- Serve with vegetables of your choice. Enjoy!