serbian recipe

Originally from the former Ottoman Empire, sarmas are cooked in Serbia by using sauerkraut leaves, ground meat, rice and seasonings.

Sarma

cabbage

½ lb smoked bacon

lb smoked pork ribs ((or smoked beef))

ground meat ((pork, veal, beef, or mixed))

onions (, chopped)

rice

paprika

bay leaves

Salt

Pepper

Kosher salt ((non-iodized *))

black peppercorns

garlic (, halved)

Water

Remove the fermented cabbage leaves one by one, being careful to tear them as little as possible.

If one or more leaves are torn (especially at first), it does not matter, keep them as they will be used later. The tiny leaves at the end are useful too, so do not throw them away.

Wash the leaves, then soak in cold water. This helps the cabbage reject the excess salt and acidity.

In a skillet, saute onions, a tablespoon of sweet paprika and add the bacon.

When they are nicely browned, add the meat, lots of freshly ground pepper and a little salt.

After a few minutes, when the meat is colored, add the rice. Stir well. Remove the stuffing from the heat.

Line a cast iron pot with the small cabbage leaves.

Add a few pieces of ribs or smoked meat. You will add them between every layer.

On each cabbage leaf, place one to two tablespoons of filling (depending on the size of the leaf), then roll so as to form a small cushion.

Carefully place the stuffed cabbage down in the pan.

Operate in the same way with the remaining leaves.

After the first layer, put two bay leaves, a few other pieces of meat, sprinkle with a little paprika and continue to place the stuffed cabbage, doing the same thing every subsequent stage.

Cover the sarmas with the large torn cabbage leaves that were previously reserved.

Cover with water. Cook over medium heat until boiling, then reduce heat to low.

Sarmas get their unique taste with a long cooking time. Simmer at least for 3 hours, or more if you can. Sometimes, sarmas are cooked at least for an entire afternoon or night.

Sarmas are cooked when the top leaves become almost transparent.

Serve sarmas hot in a deeper dish, with the sauce and bits of dried meat or ribs that were cooked with them.

Prepare the brine by mixing hot water with salt in these proportions: 33 grams of salt for 4 cups (1l) of water.

Rinse a large bowl, ideally clay or glass with boiling water. Place the whole cabbage if possible, or alternatively, if the opening of the container is not large enough, place one leaf at a time, ensuring that they remain intact.

Cover with brine. Add the garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns.

The brine must completely cover the cabbage. Cabbage tend to rise to the surface, so place a large stone or a wooden or ceramic object at the top that is heavy enough to prevent the ingredients from coming back to the surface and be in contact with the air, creating mildew.

Close the container, making sure there is enough air above the brine. Indeed, the fermentation will release gas, so it will need some space to release.

Place a towel on the container if the container is transparent (glass) as the preparation should not be in contact with light.

Ideally, you should leave at room temperature (70F/20C). At this temperature, the fermentation will be optimal at 4-5 weeks. If the temperature is lower, the fermentation will take longer.

Fermented Cabbage (Sauerkraut)

Gibanica – a Serbian recipe for a delicious layered cheese pie or cheese pita made with phyllo or yufka dough and lots of cheese.

Gibanica - Serbian Cheese Pie

g/ 1.6 lb phyllo or yufka dough (See note)

350 g/ 12.3 oz cow milk feta

200 g/ 7 oz/ about ¾ cup sour cream

200 g/ 7 oz/ about ¾ cup cottage cheese

½ liter/ 17 fl.oz/ 2 cups whole milk

eggs

olive oil (divided)

salt

Roughly mash the feta cheese with a fork in a large bowl.

Add the lightly beaten eggs, sour cream, cottage cheese, whole milk and add salt to taste. The amount of salt you need depends on how salty the feta cheese is, you should definitely try the mixture and add salt accordingly.

Filling:

Grease the baking dish (approximately 30x22 cm/ 12x9 inches) with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Open the packet of dough, take out two sheets of dough, while keeping the rest covered at all times. Cover the dough you are not working with with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out. Work quickly.

Place the first two dough sheets in the greased baking dish. The dough sheets should hang over the edges of the baking dish, when you are finished with filling the pie, you will seal it using these overlapping pieces of dough.

Place the bowl with the cheese slurry next to the baking dish. Take one dough sheet out of the packet, crumple it a bit (it doesn&#x27;t matter if it breaks a little) and dip and run it through the cheese mixture.

Press it lightly into your hand to give it a rough round shape and place this crumpled dough into the baking dish.

Make sure to keep two last sheets of dough to close the pie, but otherwise use as many pieces of dough as needed to fill the baking dish.

Pour the remaining cheese mixture over the crumpled dough in the dish.

Fold the overlapping sheets of dough over the pie.

Take the last two sheets of dough and place them over the pie as well.

Mix together the remaining olive oil and 2 tablespoons hot water. Brush the top of the pie with this mixture and leave it to soak on the counter while you preheat the oven, my convection oven needs about 10 minutes to get hot.

Preheat the convection oven to 170 degrees Celsius/ 340 degrees Fahrenheit or a regular oven to 190 degrees Celsius/ 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake the gibanica for about 45 minutes or until golden brown and set.

Serve hot or cold as suggested above.

Assemble the gibanica:

https://embed.mediavine.com/videos/s6wnuiui2werr7ngylys

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Gibanica - Serbian Cheese Pie

Top 2 serbian recipe recipes from across the web

The most viewed serbian recipe recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Sarma

Gibanica - Serbian Cheese Pie

The most viewed serbian recipe recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine