Turkish Sarma (Stuffed Vine Leaves)

5 from 1 vote

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

Prep Time1

Cook Time45

Total Time1 45

Course: Meat Recipes

Cuisine: Turkish

Servings:

Calories: 69kcal

Author: Adina

The jarred vine leaves are usually rolled together into small bundles. Unroll them very carefully; they are delicate.
Blanch vine leaves: In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the vine leaves and simmer gently for about 3-4 minutes. Drain well and leave until cool enough to handle.

Cook rice: Place the rice into a small pot, cover it with water, bring to a boil, and cook for half of the time indicated by 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.
To make the filling chop the onion very finely. Heat the oil in a small pan and cook the onion until softer, about 3-4 minutes. Let it cool slightly.
Combine the ground beef, rice, onion, grated garlic cloves, finely chopped dill, parsley, dried mint, sweet paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix together very well.

Place a vine leaf on the working surface. If too small or broken, use two to get a large filling surface or to cover the holes.
Fill vine leaves: Add about 2 teaspoons of the filling (depending on the size of your leaf) in the middle-lower part of the leaf.
Roll: 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 Turkish sarma: Pour boiling water (from the kettle) over the rolls, they should be barely covered in liquid. Cover, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Check: After about 30 minutes, try one roll to see if the rice is soft; if not, prolong the cooking time.
Remove: When the vine leaf rolls are cooked, carefully remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon. Place them on a deeper serving platter and keep them warm.
Reserve liquid: You will need their cooking liquid to make the sauce.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and stir well for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir well again.
Slowly start adding the cooking liquid from the vine leaf rolls while whisking continuously. Add a little chicken stock or vegetable broth if you feel that you don't have enough cooking liquid.
Let simmer for 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously.
Adjust: If the sauce is too thick, add another splash of broth. Adjust the taste with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
Pour the sauce over the stuffed vine leaves in the serving dish and serve as suggested above.

Vine leaves: I had 32 rolls but needed more than 32 vine leaves. Prepare some more than you actually need, some will break, and some will be too small for filling. In such a case, use two vine leaves to form one roll. Place the two leaves over each other in order to cover the broken parts or make the filling surface larger.
The beef should not be too lean. Ground lamb can be used instead. For an Eastern European version of sarma, you can use ground pork or a mixture of pork and beef.
Broth: Only needed if you have too little liquid in the pot to make the sauce or if the sauce turns out to be too thick. Also useful when reheating the rolls.