Sarma without meat

Preparation steps

• I will try to show you as simply as possible, because in fact it is not complicated, a few ways in which I make sarma without meat. They can be eaten by everyone, not just vegetarians, they can also be eaten during fasting because there are no ingredients of animal origin. If no powder is added or if care is taken as to which flour is used in some cases, depending on the filling, it can also be gluten-free. Sarma is also vegan. I believe that each of you will find yourself in one of the mentioned variants.
• Let’s start with buying greens on the lot first. I have always bought from the same family for years. I buy a head that is flat and wide because it is a sign that it has nice big leaves. Along with the head, I always buy some sliced ​​cabbage, which I sweep on the bottom, between the rows and on top of the sarma together with the cut leftovers from the head (although I love to cut the rest of the head coarsely, pour over olive oil and eat like a salad). Along with the greens, I always get a head of two garlic cloves and brine from my dear saleswoman, because she knows I like to drink brine.
• After such a pleasant shopping you are happy to go home with a fine, fragrant cabbage for sarma, which turns yellow, a little less than it was my mother's sauerkraut (she also knew how to put corn kernels in greens and peppercorns, to make it nicer and harder ), but still, I can smell it neatly maintained and properly acidified (without the chemistry that speeds up the pickling process), and it is not overcooked or oversalted.
• Upon arriving home, separate the head nicely, carefully so as not to tear the leaves, into parts until the leaves are no longer large enough to bend the strings. Then the leaf, leaf by leaf, rinse briefly under running water, place in a bowl and then with a sharp knife carefully thin the thickest vein of the leaf and your greens are ready. Set it aside while you prepare the stuffing.
• I always start the stuffing by briefly frying the finely chopped leeks or purple onions in olive oil just to soften them, then adding the garlic and stirring until it releases the aroma and set aside while I prepare the rest of the stuffing.
• # Stuffing 1. Smoked or plain tempeh, finely crumble with your hands and marinate in Tamari or Soy sauce. Then transfer to a pan with the onion / leek and garlic. Stir and fry briefly. Set aside to cool. Cook millet in slightly salted water according to the manufacturer's instructions. I always cook it in a ratio of 1: 2.5 for 10 or 15 minutes, depending on whose and how much coarse millet I have. I then cover and let it soak up any remaining liquid and let it cool down enough that it can be mixed with tempeh. When you have mixed everything, add spices to your taste. I like to add a little cumin, crushed hot peppers or chili. Pay attention to the amount of salt because tamari is salty, and so are greens. You will cut the smoked tofu into cubes and insert it between the rows of sarma and on top.
• # Stuffing 2. Cook the buckwheat according to the manufacturer's instructions, cover to soak up the rest of the liquid. If you still have liquid left after about 10 minutes of standing, strain the buckwheat well and set it aside while you prepare the mushrooms. Finely chop the champignons and sauté on the onion / leek, season and leave to cool. When the buckwheat and mushrooms have cooled, pour everything into a bowl where you will combine the stuffing. Chop half of the smoked tofu also and add it to the filling mixture. Stir and season. Be careful with salt! You will cut the smoked seitan and the rest of the smoked tofu into cubes or sticks and insert them between the sarmis and on top.
• # Stuffing 3. You can also cook red lentils and buckwheat together after rinsing them in a sieve under running water. Towards the end of cooking, add the walnuts and boil them briefly, or if you prefer, you can toast them briefly in a dry pan or oven and simmer briefly with the onion / leek. Then mix both lentils and buckwheat in a pan with onions / leeks and fry briefly. You can also soak the walnuts the night before use, so you don't have to heat them before you combine them with the rest of the sarma filling ingredients. Finely chop a third of the smoked tofu or seitan and add to the lentil and buckwheat mixture. Stir, try and season. Cut the rest of the tofu or seitan into larger pieces that you will sweep between the rows and along the top of the sarma.
• # Stuffing 4. Cook red lentils, buckwheat and millet, then add them to a bowl with onion / leek and garlic and fry briefly. Finely chop a portion of the smoked tofu and add to the previous mixture, stir, try and season. Cut the rest of the tofu into pieces that you will sweep between the rows and on top of the sarma.
• # Stuffing 5. Boil buckwheat porridge in a little water for 5 minutes and keep it covered all the time. After that, leave the lid aside to swell and cool (it will cook completely together with the other ingredients in the sarma, it is important that it swells to fill the volume of the filling). Add the champignons to the bowl with the onions / leeks and sauté, then add the chilled buckwheat, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. After cooking the stuffed, arranged and watered sarma for about 40 minutes, you will add coarsely grated carrots to the top and continue cooking. This carrot will also be a side dish with this sarma.
• Stacking the sarma: pour a little olive oil on the bottom of the bowl and sprinkle a layer of coarsely chopped cabbage (bought separately or cut what is left of the head after you have separated the filling leaves) and which, if necessary, you have previously washed in the cold water and drain. Arrange the sarma on the greens, and if it fits, insert pieces of smoked tofu or seitan between them. If it doesn’t fit you’ll sweep them over the top of the back row, and drink rather put a new layer of sliced ​​cabbage. How many rows you will have depends on the width of the pot in which you will cook the sarma. When you have arranged the sauerkraut and greens, pour all the vegetable stock (which must not be spiced) or water so that the liquid is one or two fingers above the sauerkraut. Cover with a plate or lid that fits in a bowl, so that the sarma stays in the liquid and does not rise during cooking. Cook first over medium heat until it boils, then reduce the heat and simmer over low heat until the greens are soft. Occasionally just shake the bowl with the sarma to distribute the liquid evenly. With the stuffing prepared in this way, where the ingredients are already fully cooked, you will not need more than 45 minutes to a maximum of 1 hour for the sarma to be cooked. If you only heat the ingredients halfway, or do not process them at all, cook the sarma for 15 minutes longer. When the greens soften, you can finish the sarma by stirring a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree and smoked pepper in a cup with the addition of water and pouring over the sarma. Then shake the pan to lower this topping into the lower layers and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes to combine the flavors. If necessary, lightly spread the sarma with a wooden spatula so that the topping reaches the bottom. If you see that there is not enough liquid, you can add it later during cooking, but not too much so that the sarma does not turn into a rare stew, and the soil must not be too soft and loose. If you like, you can make a light spray in a glass of whipped density and spices that suit you. Anyone who doesn’t like putting tomatoes doesn’t have to put it on, they can just add smoked peppers directly to the sarma and shake to mix with the liquid in which the sarma is cooked. Finally, try the liquid to assess whether it is spicy enough and top up if necessary.
• Writing this recipe took quite a long time, so it is possible that I got lost and made a mistake or dropped something, repeated, etc. Carefully read the recipe to the end before you decide to prepare a meal according to it and ask anything you do not understand, I will be happy to answer and further clarified.
• Side dishes with sarma, according to personal choice: - mashed potatoes, - boiled whole potatoes, peeled and topped with a little salted olive oil, - polenta prepared the way you like it, - polenta cooked, seasoned and briefly fried on a grill pan or baked in the oven , - separately stewed carrots with a mixture of onions and leeks and seasoned with a little cumin and pepper or carrots that you will cook together with sarma (described in #Filling 5.) - a slice of homemade bread that you like the most Pssssst, don't tell anyone, but sometimes I like , instead of all the above, add large pyrethrum spots or unsweetened cornflakes to a plate with sarma.
• Note: In each of these examples of stuffing sarma, you can, if you think the stuffing is too thin or pemalo, add oatmeal or other flakes, crumbs or a little flour. It is very important that all your cereals or lentils and buckwheat swell to fill the filling volume. You can also fill the sarma with couscous, quinoa, and various finely grated vegetables. I will single out some of them because I especially liked them and put links at the end of the recipe. One or two were an incentive for me to use some of the sarma stuffing ingredients, and some I just liked on first reading but haven’t tried yet.
• Lean sarma made of sweet cabbage or Vegetarian sarma in chard leaves
• Now you have a lot of examples of how to prepare sarma without meat and all in one place. Taste, combine and enjoy! Good luck!
• ** Important note: people suffering from celiac disease, people sensitive to gluten or those who are on a gluten-free diet should not use seitan, it is actually cereal meat and almost 100% gluten free.