Sarma

Method

1. Cut around the core of the cabbage and put it into a pot of boiling water. Boil until the leaves soften enough to lift off one by one with a slotted spoon. Do not boil the whole head through — take the leaves as they loosen.
2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the finely chopped onion.
3. Add the minced meat and stir. When the meat has coloured a little, add the washed rice and stir again. The rice stays raw — it will cook inside the rolls.
4. Add salt, black pepper and seasoning, stir, mix in the finely chopped parsley and set the pan aside to cool.
5. Take a softened cabbage leaf, cut out the hard rib, put a little filling on it and roll the sarma — fold the sides in first, then roll up. Do not overfill: the rice swells.
6. Pack the finished rolls tightly into an ovenproof dish. If any cabbage leaves are left over, shred them and scatter them over the top. Lay the pieces of bacon over that.
7. Add a little water — enough to come halfway up the rolls — and bake at 175 °C for about 60 minutes. Before taking them out you can make a thin roux and pour it over.
8. This is the rich version. For fasting sarma, use ground and chopped walnuts instead of the minced meat and leave the bacon out entirely. Serve with Macedonian red wine.