Sarmi - Kapama

Sarmi

Main ingredients:

One package of bratwursts (or sausage of your choice), two pounds of lean pork meat, 1½ pound of lean ground beef,  one cup of rice, one onion, two carrots, one package of sauerkraut, one jar of sour (fermented) cabbage leaves (about 15-20 leaves); one small green squash (optional),  1 cup tomato sauce.

Dice the onion and sauté it in three tablespoons of olive oil.  Shred the carrots and the squash and add to the onion. Cook for 3 min. Add the rice and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add ½ tablespoon of salt and black pepper to taste. Add ½ tablespoon of paprika and one tablespoon of savory, a cup of tomato souse. Stir, add one cup of water, stir well, cover and cook for 10 min. After that let it stay for about 15 min to cool down. All this will go in the filling of the sarmi.

In the meantime brown the pork and the bratwursts in a large pot. Remove the meat from the pot. Drain the juices from the sauerkraut and rinse one half of it (to remove some vinegar and salt), put in the same pot and cook for 2-3 min. Add ½ tablespoon of paprika, crushed hot pepper to taste and a handful of parsley. Put ½ of the meat and bratwurst over the sauerkraut.

Add the ground beef to the rice mixture and mix very well. Separate the cabbage leaves, put two tablespoons of the rice mixture on each leaf and fold it to form a roll closed from all sides. If the leaves are very big, cut them in two. When you finish rolling all pieces, arrange ½ of them in a layer over the meat and bratwursts  in the pot. Layer on top the other half of the meat and bratwursts and the rest of the cabbage rolls. Add two cups of water. Put a plate over the sarmi to hold them down.  Cover the pot and cook on  low heat for about 3 hours.
Then let it cool down a bit, serve with red wine and enjoy!

Sauce(optional) - Beat one egg with a tablespoon of flour, a half a cup of plain yogurt,  and a half a cup of the liquid remaining after the cooking of the sarmi.  Cook on low heat for a few minutes, until it thickens.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the sarmi.

Note: You can cook just the sarmi, without sauerkraut sausage and meat.