Turkish sarma or stuffed vine leaves with ground meat and rice served in sauce, a popular dish in many parts of the world.

What is sarma?

Sarma is a version of dolma. Dolma refers to all vegetables stuffed with meat and rice, for instance, eggplants, peppers, zucchini, and so on. It can also mean pieces of meat (like chicken or beef) and even seafood (calamari tubes) filled with meat or rice.

Yaprak Sarma refers to vine/ grape or cabbage leaves stuffed with meat, meat, and rice or only rice and other vegetarian ingredients. Or stuff them with fish and bacon as well, for an unorthodox but thoroughly delicious version.

They are a staple of Turkish cuisine and are immensely popular all over the Balkans, Middle East, Central, and Eastern Europe. Basically, regions that were once occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

The Romanian sarmale, for instance, is our national dish. And we also stuff vine leaves with ground pork, or with rice and mushrooms for fasting time meals.

What do you need?

Vine leaves:

The leaves can be bought pickled in jars or vacuumed. I definitely prefer those in jars, I find the vacuumed ones too tough even after preparing.
I had exactly 32 rolls and needed about 40 leaves to be able to roll that number.
Think generously when preparing them for filling, many in the jar will be too small, broken or will break while you try to roll them.
In this case, use two smaller/broken leaves to form one roll.

Rice:

I prefer to use short grain rice for any kind of sarma, dolma or stuffed anything. It might be just a matter of personal preference, but I feel that the short-grain rice absorbs the liquid better, it becomes plumper, softer, and more comforting when used in fillings.
However, long-grain rice should be fine as well.

Meat:

Beef or lamb.
I use beef most of the time because ground lamb is not available at all around here. I did ground the lamb myself once and the stuffed vine rolls were delicious, but normally I just stick to beef.
Don’t use the leanest beef, it should still have a fair amount of fat.
For an Eastern European version of the stuffed leaf rolls, use pork or a mixture of pork and beef.

Herbs:

Fresh dill and parsley, and dried mint.

How to fill sarma?

Prepare the vine leaves:

Carefully unroll the leaves, they are usually rolled into small bundles. In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Simmer them gently for about 3 or 4 minutes. Drain well and leave until cool enough to handle.

Prepare the rice:

Cook the rice, but only half the time of what is indicated on the packet’s instructions. For instance, my rice needs to be cooked for 20 minutes, so I only cook it for 10 minutes. Drain the rice well and let it cool slightly.

Filling:

Cook the finely chopped onion for about 3-4 minutes and let cool slightly. Mix with the meat, rice, grated garlic, herbs, and spices, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Roll:

Place a vine leaf on the working surface. If too small or broken, arrange two of them over each other to have a larger surface or to cover the holes.
Add about 2 teaspoons of the filling in the middle-lower part of the leaf.
Fold the left and right sides of the leaf over the filling, then form a roll, starting to roll at the base of the parcel.
Place the roll with the seam facing down in a cooking pot. Repeat until you have used all the filling, arranging the rolls nicely and tightly in the pot.

Cook:

Boil some water in the kettle and pour it over the rolls to barely cover them.
Cover the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer on low heat for 30-40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes, if the rice is not perfectly soft yet, give a bit more time.
Carefully remove the cooked rolls from the pot and keep them warm in a larger, deeper serving dish.
You will need their cooking liquid to make the sauce.

Sauce:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle the flour and stir well for 1-2 minutes.
Add tomato paste and stir well again.
Slowly start adding the cooking liquid while whisking continuously. Add a little chicken stock or vegetable broth if you feel that you don’t have enough cooking liquid.
Simmer for 1-2 minutes stirring continuously.
If the sauce is too thick, add a little more broth or stock.
Adjust the taste with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
Pour the sauce over the stuffed vine leaves and serve immediately.

How to store?

The Turkish sarma keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days and can be reheated in the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of water or broth.

You can also freeze them. Place them on a plate or baking dish and freeze them. Once solid transfer them to freezer bags or containers. Defrost in the refrigerator and reheat gently. Add some broth or stock to the pot when reheating.