In Moldova sarmale are more than a dish, they are a reason to bring the family together. They are made for New Year, for Christmas, for the village feast day and for weddings: one big pot with enough for everybody and some left for tomorrow. It is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day than on the first.

What the flavour is made of

Sarmale rest on three things: the right cabbage, fatty meat and a long simmer. The rest is small stuff.

The cabbage. Take a whole head of pickled cabbage, not shredded: you need whole leaves. Good pickled cabbage is sour but not bitter, and not slimy to the touch. If the leaves are very sour, soak them for ten minutes in cold water. The same if they are too salty.

The meat. The classic is pork, sometimes half and half with beef. The fat gives up its juice and the rice soaks it in. Buy ready mince or take pork neck and chop it finely yourself: it tastes better.

The rice. Round-grain, raw, not boiled beforehand. For a kilo of meat you need about 200 grams of rice in the filling: more and you get rice porridge with meat.

How to keep sarmale from falling apart

Three things that save the day:

  • do not roll them too tight: the rice swells and needs room;
  • lay them seam down and tightly, one against the other;
  • put an upturned plate on top: it presses the sarmale down so they do not open when the pot boils.

The simmer must be very low. If the water boils hard the sarmale open and the cabbage overcooks. A good pot of sarmale burbles lazily, "smiles", as housewives say.

What to serve with sarmale

The proper way: hot sarmale, cold sour cream, a slice of mămăligă and a hot pepper. Some eat them with spring onion, some with garlic sauce. A cold portion is good fried in a pan.

Meat is the main expense in this recipe, so it is worth checking in advance where it is cheaper now. Below is the best meat offer in each store.

Where it is cheaper: meat

All offers

The rice can be cheap, but it should be round-grain, which absorbs well. Here are the current offers.

In the catalogues now: rice

All offers

Onion, carrot, dill and cabbage can be bought in any shop nearby, and their price hardly moves. For comparison see our pages on vegetables and meat.

Variations worth trying

In summer sarmale are rolled in young vine leaves, which housewives prepare from spring by pickling them in jars. These sarmale are smaller, more tender and lightly tangy. During fasting people make sarmale without meat: rice, mushrooms, carrot and onion. And for a holiday table, pieces of smoked belly or ribs are sometimes tucked between the layers: they give smoke and fat to the whole pot.

If the sarmale turn out too sour, add a spoon of sugar to the water or lay a few carrot slices on top. If they are too bland, salt the water at the end, not at the beginning.

How to keep and reheat them

Sarmale are eaten on the second day, and many say they are even better then: the juices have time to mix. In the fridge they keep three or four days. Reheat in a pot on low heat with a spoon of water, not in the microwave: that way the cabbage leaf does not dry out.

To freeze them, put cooled sarmale into containers and pour over the liquid they were cooked in. They keep up to two months.