Sarma

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Sarma is a common surname used by people in India, particulary from the North-Eastern States in the country and also in the southern states. It is often thought to be a corruption of the more common "Sharma", prevalent in the (Gangetic) Plains and Central India.

Sarma is a Turkish dish which is also known well in all Eastern European countries, best described as a "cabbage roll" to the English speaking world. The word "sarma" means "something wrapped" in Turkish.

The Dish

A sarma (plural sarme in most Southern Slavic languages, and sarmale in Romanian), is a specialty dish in Eastern Europe, and is prepared in Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey, and in some other geographically and traditionally close countries.

Preparation

Minced meat (usually beef, pork, veal, or a combination thereof), rice, onions and various spices including salt, pepper and various local herbs) are mixed together and then rolled into cabbage or grapevine leaves. The combination is then cooked together in boiling water for few hours. The best cooking method is slow boiling in large clay pots. A special ingredient, zaprška, literally flour browned in fat, is often added at the end of the process. Other fine-tuned flavors include cherry tree leaves.

Unlike other eastern European cultures, the peoples of south-eastern Europe overwhelmingly use sour cabbage (sauerkraut or kiseli kupus) as opposed to fresh cabbage. At the end of the harvest, families traditionally prepare the sour cabbage (as whole cabbage, not shredded as one might see in bottles of sauerkraut in the store), for sarma making.

Another kind of sarma are those rolled in (grape) vine leaves - smaller and with slightly different taste (see dolma).

Sarma is traditionally a heavy dish (though increasingly families are using healthier options such as olive oil or other oils with far less fat than traditional pork fat). For this reason, sarma is most likely to be served during winter. Traditionally, they are served along with polenta or potatoes, which are sometimes mashed. Other optional but tasty add-ons include cream, yogurt and hrean (i.e. horseradish).

Cabbage rolls served in tomato sauce, though common in North America, are much less common in South-eastern Europe. And unlike its Polish or Ukrainian rivals, the sarma filling is predominately meat as opposed to predominately rice - in fact, it is only in recent times that rice has been added to sarma. Originally sarma was made with barley.

Cultural significance

It is almost impossible to make sarma for a small amount of people, unless they are willing to help themselves to a king's feast. Families tend to boil a pot filled with sarme/sarmale. Sarma is often served as a main dish during wedding ceremonies.

For diasporic communities of Eastern Europeans, sarma is often cherished as a reminder of their former homelands.