Sarna Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. Line bottoms of 3 greased 8-in. square baking pans with parchment; grease parchment. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick and lemon-colored, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add almond paste; mix well. Gradually add margarine, almond flour, cake meal, salt and vanilla., Divide batter into thirds. Tint 1 portion red and 1 portion green; leave remaining portion plain. Spread each portion into a separate prepared pan., Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and edges begins to brown, 10-12 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before gently removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely., Place red layer on waxed paper; spread with 2 tablespoons jam. Top with plain layer and remaining jam. Add green layer; press down gently., For glaze, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips, shortening and salt; stir until smooth. Spread half over green layer. Refrigerate 20 minutes or until set. Turn over onto another piece of waxed paper; spread remaining glaze over red layer. Refrigerate 20 minutes or until set., With a sharp knife, trim edges. Cut into 4 rows; cut each row into 1-in. slices.

Steps:

• Place cabbage in the freezer for a few days. The night before making the rolls, take it out to thaw.
• In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork, ham, rice, onion, egg, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix well. Form meat mixture into oblong balls, using 1/2 cup of the mixture at a time. Then, wrap a cabbage leaf around each ball.
• Spread the sauerkraut in the bottom of a large pot, then layer cabbage rolls on top, placing them seam-side down. Pour tomato juice over rolls, then add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 3 hours, adding more water as necessary.

Steps:

• To get a really crisp edge, snip a few small cuts in the fat around each bacon rasher. This will also stop it from curling up too much when cooking.
• It's best to buy dry-cure bacon if you can, as less water is released when frying, ensuring really crisp fat (the best bit) and a better flavour.
• Place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a trickle of oil.
• Lay the bacon in the pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side or until it's as crispy as you prefer. Remove the bacon and divide between 2 slices of bread. Spread either tomato ketchup or brown sauce on to the remaining 2 slices and place sauce-side down in the pan.
• Leave for about a minute to absorb all the juices in the pan, also warming (but not toasting) the bread.
• The other 2 pieces will be warmed through by the hot bacon on top, with any bacon fat seeping through the bread. Assemble the sandwiches and eat straight away.

Steps:

• Take the whole sauerkraut head and remove leaves carefully avoiding damaging them. 1500 g should give about 20 to 25 sarmas. Cut the thick part at the bottom of each leaf (cut it triangularly).
• Mix grounded beef, pork and bacon. Add two eggs and very finely minced onion. Cook rice until half done and add into meat. Add salt, pepper and mix hard.
• Take leaf of sauerkraut and put meat in it and make a small package making sure to close ends. I don't know how to explain it but you have to press leaf end into. Do it until you have enough meat or leaves.
• Take a really large pot and start to put sarmas in it. At the bottom put smoked bacon skins if you have any, than one layer of sarmas, one layer bacon or pork ribs. Also add sliced sauerkraut in between. After you lay all sarmas and bacon, ribs and sliced sauerkraut, pour 2 cups of brine over everything (this is optional, my family like really sour sauerkraut that's why I've put it).
• Cook for about 1 hour on mild fire. Some people, and I'm among them like to add this: take small pan, melt lard and fry flour until brownish - add paprika and some cold water and make creamy stuff (we call this "ajmbren"). Add this into sarma and cook 2 to 3 hours.
• The best sarma in the next day, not the day you've cooked it. You can eat sarma up to whole week; you can also freeze portions. We eat cooked potato on lard and onion with it called "restani krumpir".