Although the vegetables in this dish are cooked, you stop the cooking while they still have some crunch, so it’s like a warm spicy salad, which is just as good when left to go cold.
For 2 portions
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon kalonji/onion seeds
peanut or olive oil
1/2 onion – sliced
4 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1/2 fresh green chilli – finely chopped
1/4 red pepper – cut into small squares
1/4 cabbage – finely sliced
Small head of broccoli – broken into florets
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a shallow pan and when hot add the whole cumin, coriander and kalonji. Fry until they start to pop and release their flavour.
Add the onion, garlic, red pepper and chilli. Fry for five minutes.
Add the cabbage and broccoli. Stir well to coat with the onions and spices.
Season with the garam masala, salt and pepper.
Cover and continue cooking until the cabbage has wilted. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan by about half a centimetre.
Cover and continue cooking, stirring from time to time, for around ten minutes until the vegetables are cooked but still with some bite.
This recipe comes from my Bosnian father. It would be made in the winter when tightly packed white cabbages were in season. The cabbage leaves are used to wrap a filling of meat and rice, which is then cooked in tomatoes and stock and finally thickened with a brown roux. We always made Sarma a couple of days before wanting to eat it as the flavour is so much richer after time. Now that I no longer eat meat I have been experimenting with vegetarian fillings for the cabbage rolls, after a couple of tries which tasted good enough but didn’t hold together like the consistency of the original versión, I turned to textured soya, which is a bit on the sweet side, but with the addition of seasonings and an egg to bind it, it worked well.
For 2 servings
1 large white cabbage
400 gram tin peeled or chopped plum tomatoes
1/2 red pepper – chopped into small cubes
1 – 2 litres vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
MEAT FILLING per person
150 grams minced beef or lamb
1/4 onion – finely chopped
1 clove gárlic – finely chopped
50 grams long grain rice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
VEGETARIAN FILLING per person
50 grams texturised soya – soaked in water for 20 minutes and then drained, or as instructed on the packet if different from the brand I used.
50 grams long grain rice
3 sun dried tomatoes – chopped into medium chunks
1 teaspoon/ 5 ml marmite
1 teaspoon / 5 ml Maggi Wurze
1 small egg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE SAUCE
2 tablespoons / 30 ml plain flour
2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil
You need to start with the cabbage. Put a pan of water on to boil in which the cabbage can fit whole, bear in mind that you are going to submerge the cabbage, so not so much water that it will spill over once the cabbage is in it. Remove any dirty or damaged outer leaves from the cabbage. Make a cut in the base of the stem of the next outer leaf to release it from the main stem, then the following one. You may find that the first few leaves will come off the cabbage easily without being damaged, if not put the cabbage in the boiling water to blanch them and separate the leaves. One by one cut the leaves at the base to loosen them and then put the cabbage in the boiling water to remove them without any damage. You are wanting 2-3 leaves per person.
Once you have enough leaves, and maybe a spare or two, put them two or three at a time in the boiling water for about three minutes each until they become slightly translucent and a more pliable texture, then drain them and let them cool.
Next, to help the leaves roll nicely, get a potato peeler and shave off the outer ridge of the leaf base until it’s thin and flexible.
Now prepare your fillings. Whichever version you are making put all the ingredients for it in a bowl and mix well. Form your mix into two or three fat sausage shapes per person, squeezing the mix together so that it holds its shape.
Put each sausage into a cabbage leaf and roll the leaf around the filling.
To secure the rolls, tuck the ends inwards starting in the centre and tucking in round and round until you have a neat roll.
Put all your rolls into a pan where they will fit in one layer. They don’t want to be too tightly packed as they will expand.
Add the chopped tomatoes, red pepper and enough vegetable stock to cover the rolls.
Bring to a simmer, turn the heat down very low and cook slowly for an hour and a quarter. Check the liquid level from time to time and add more stock if needed.
Let the dish cool for half an hour, then carefully take out the parcels and transfer them to another dish leaving the sauce in the pan. I put mine into an ovenproof dish in which I was going to reheat them the next day.
To thicken the sauce you are going to make a brown roux. Put the oil and flour in a small frying pan, mix together to blend, then on a medium heat cook the roux stirring all the time until it caramelises and turns a medium nut brown.
Turn off the heat and add the tomato sauce from the Sarma a bit at a time and mix well to blend. With the first spoonful the roux will go thick and dry looking, don’t worry, keep adding the sauce and all will be well.
Once you have added enough of the tomato sauce to have a liquid, tip this into the pan of tomatoes in which you cooked the Sarma and heat the sauce to thicken it stirring all the time.
You can now replace the cabbage parcels, reheat the dish for 15 minutes and serve it, or pour the sauce over the parcels in an ovenproof dish and leave to cool, to be then reheated in the oven the next day or the day after that.
I have always made Coleslaw for myself with the oil and vinegar dressing as in the recipe below. For me the mayonnaise masks the flavour of the vegetables, while the French dressing brings it out. Having recently converted a couple of friends to this style of Coleslaw, including my sister who I had assumed made it this way already, I thought you, reader or two, would like the recipe too.
The Bavarian Cabbage Salad may not be Bavarian at all, but the making of it was demonstrated to me by a friend from that region, so that is what it is called in my recipe book. I had eaten it at her house several times and loved it so had to have the recipe.
MY COLESLAW
Quarter of a medium sized white cabbage
1 red apple
2 medium carrots – peeled
30 grams peanuts – dry roasted
50 grams small raisins
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Remove the outer tough leaves from the cabbage and discard.
Cut the cabbage into very fine slices, and put into a largish salad bowl.
Finely grate the carrots and add to the cabbage.
Quarter the apple, remove the cores, cut each wedge in half lengthways, then into thin slices.
Add to the cabbage and carrots.
Add the nuts and raisins, then the oil and vinegar. Mix well.
Season to taste.
If eating the same day, leave for at least two hours at room temperature for the flavours to meld.
This salad will keep for two or three days in the fridge.
BAVARIAN CABBAGE SALAD
Quarter of a medium sized white cabbage
100 ml stock
Quarter of a teaspoon of caraway seeds
50 grams finely cut bacon lardons – can be smoked or not
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Finely slice the cabbage and put into a salad bowl.
Put the stock into a small saucepan with the caraway and heat until boiling.
Pour over the cabbage and mix with a spoon, then with your hands mix and squeeze the cabbage to break it a bit and help it absorb the stock a little.
Fry the lardons in the olive oil until nicely lightly browned.
Add to the cabbage and mix well.
Add the vinegar and seasoning. Mix well again.
Again if you are eating the salad the same day, leave covered at room temperature for at least two hours for the flavours to meld.
If you store the salad in the fridge for any length of time, let it come back to room temperature before eating.
fincafood 