There are some dishes
\nin Romania that served as inspiration for festivals, most of the time with
\ndouble purpose: to pass down traditional dishes and recipes from one generation
\nto another, and create an event that would benefit the community. There are
\nseveral suchlike events in Romania: the festival of sausages, of pies, cheese,
\ntrout, pancakes and of course, cabbage rolls. <\/p>\n
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\n
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Two cabbage roll
\nfestivals are taking place in Romania in September, one in Salonta, now in its 7th
\nyear, and another one in Praid, with a tradition going back 20 years. Apart
\nfrom prizes for the most delicious cabbage rolls, the festival in Praid has,
\nalong the years, seen prizes being awarded for the smallest, the biggest and
\nthe most original cabbage roll. The biggest prize-winning roll one year was of
\nnearly one meter long and as thick as one’s arm. <\/p>\n
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\n
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A traditional meal in
\nall the Balkan countries, though claimed by each country, cabbage rolls are
\noriginal from Turkey where they were called sarmak. In Turkey, the original
\nrecipe consisted of minced beef mixed with rice and raisins all wrapped in vine
\nleaves, but in other countries the vine leaves have been replaced with cabbage
\nor sauerkraut, and the meat was replaced by pork, chicken, or even fish. A
\ntraditional recipe in Bukovina, a province in northern Romania, is called
\n‘cabbage roll nest’, with filling or wrapping of different types. The filling
\nis pork, beef, chicken, goose, or mushrooms. In spring, vine leaves, dock, horseradish,
\nbeet, and lime tree leaves are used for wrapping. Wrap the rolls and boil them
\nin enough water to cover. Then add tomato paste or juice boil them in the oven
\nat low heat for about two hours, pouring water or white wine from time to time.
\nThe cabbage roll nests should be taken carefully out of the pot and placed on a
\nplate. Add cream on top and a slice of polenta by their side. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\nThe
\ntraditional Romanian recipe for cabbage rolls uses sauerkraut wraps and pork.
\nFor that you need one or two heads of sauerkraut of medium size. Place cabbage
\nleaves in cold water to take out excess salt. You need 1.5 kg of pork, mixed
\nwith one cup of rice and two finely chopped onions; cut off the thick veins of
\nthe cabbage leaves to wrap them more easily around the meat. Then we place them
\nin the pot together with some dry thyme, a bit of tomato juice, cover them in
\nwater and boil them at low heat for a couple of hours. Add some bacon as for
\nthe smoky flavour. Serve hot with cream on top, some polenta and, why not, a glass
\nof red wine. Enjoy! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The recipe for one of the most popular dishes in Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":172059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45767],"tags":[45816,43064,43167],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-173172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-cooking-show","tag-minced-meat-cabbage-rolls","tag-romanian-cuisine","tag-sarmale"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n