Romanian food experiment

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saltfish

saltfish

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As partner and kids were away, I decided to raid local East European shops and spend the day attempting the Romanian national dish (according to some) ; Sarmale cu mamaliga..quite into experimenting with Eastern European recipes at the moment.

There is a very similar Polish version of this called Gołąbki (pronoounced goWOMPkee)


First - I bought a whole fermented cabbage (varza murate, romanian whole sauerkraut) - and soaked for about 3 hours in several changes of water


Then fried chopped onion, bacon, generous paprika, thyme and savory until soft. (I use Croatian/serbian paprika - a bit of the hot one -'ljuta' and the sweet one 'slatka'- I find these more balanced between smoky and sweet than the Spanish stuff, which is too assertive for non-spanish recipes, you can often find Balkan paprika in Turkish food shops)



My idea; I added some chopped dried apricot to the mix for sweetness and thought it might go with the smoky flavours -would it work?


After the mix had softened I added 1 cup risotto rice, about 500g minced pork and 500g minced veal - added a little water for the rice to absorb, mixed and set aside without cooking the rice or meat.

Next, you need a lump of cured pork - I don't understand the difference between gammon and ham hock - but some recipes said ham hock so that's what I asked the butcher for - he looked a bit confused but gave me something which I later realised would be too salty if I didn't first soak and simmer in a few changes of water:


Then I removed the drained cabbage leaves one by one, folded on one side and filled with the minced meat, onion and rice mix and tucked in to make rolls, arranging them around the ham hock/gammon


Keep going..

nearly ready to cook


Then I poured over about 1 and a half tins of chopped tomato and added a few bay leaves and peppercorns -covered it all with remaining cabbage leaves, cooked in the oven with lid on for about 4 hours on a low heat - then went for a walk



near the end I added some sprigs of dill


..et voila!


served with mamaliga(polenta) - sour cream, polish cucumber-yoghurt-salad with grated radish, garnished with fresh dill



verdict: - very satisfying but next time I will not use savory in the mix - maybe just thyme, parsley or oregano - veal mince was too dry so will only use fatty pork (lean is no good for this) and less dried apricot and more bay and pepper.
 
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Looks fantastic. Great effort. There's a well-rated polish restaurant near me but we were waiting for it winter to hit before we went and gorged on dumplings, pork knuckle and all that crazy-heavy food :D

Can't say I know much at all about Polish or Romanian food though :o
 
Thanks for the positive comments guys - yes Scam, most east European food I’ve tried is on the heavy side - but the long cooking times give you the chance to build up an appetite!

Moses - I’d say the ‘keys’ or key themes seem to be balancing smokey, sweet, sour and umami flavours- for example in Bigos, a polish stew, you have the sour and sweet from prunes or apple and sauerkraut, which also gives some umami alongside meat and wild mushrooms - my favourites I’ve tried so far are definitely Bigos, Ukrainian Borscht , and steamed Slovakian dumplings (parena knedla) with goulash .

There are strange similarities with East Asian food in some dishes, as well as the opportunity to substitute with some British ingredients; I’ve found British bacon and Bramley apples go great in some dishes and faggots (from a decent Midlands butcher’s) are divine in Ukrainian Borscht. there’s also the Balkan cuisine, which, like Romanian Sarmale is a fusion of Slavic and Turkish influences.

That’s the end of me waffling but I’d encourage you to try, especially as there are so many east European food shops in the uk now - some of the fresh stuff they have ready cooked in their deli counters is very good quality and value.
 
That looks very similar to some of the food I've had in Moldova. I particularly liked sarmale and this thread has reminded me that I need to ask a couple of friends there for their recipe.
 
Good effort there, do enjoy Galumpki. We have made from scratch a couple of times.

Not such a fan of Bigos myself, with the dumplings we have made the Polish version Pierogi, the pastry was a PITA when I made some, but made some stuffed with meat, then boiled, then fried in butter with onion and bacon lardons. Very good :)

If you enjoy chopping veg and have some time on your hands we like to make Salatka Jarzynowa at Easter and other family occasions. Always goes down well!

Were given a load of beetroot by our neighbouring allotment so going to be sure to make a Barszcz with that.

Thats just a couple of dishes off the top of my head but theres plenty more to be enjoyed...
 
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