Serbian Cuisine: A Recipe Special

I love to make foods from different places, and here is a sample of cabbage rolls, stew, and more.

Sarma (Serbian stuffed cabbage rolls):
1 small head of cabbage, pickled like sour kraut
2 pounds ground pork
1-1/2 cups uncooked real rice
1/2 cup Hungarian sweet paprika
3 TBS garlic powder
1-1/2 cup salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

To pickle the cabbage, place head of cabbage into a large kettle with a 1 to 3 mix of vinegar and water.  Bring to a boil, ensuring that the whole head is pickled.  I like to use the left over juices from our regular pickles that we've eaten up.

Cut out the core, and gently tear off of the individual leaves.  Use the first outer layers to cover the bottom of a baking pan.  Separate out the rest of the leaves, saving the small ones for aside for later.

Mix the other ingredients together well.  Place about 3 TBS worth of meat mix into the "pocket" of the cabbage leaf, and fold over and tuck.  Fold sides over the top, and continue to roll.

Place the rolls onto the layer of leaves that are lined into the bottom of the baking pan.  The small leaves that are too small should get cut up and put over the top of the rolls.  Cover with foil, and bake at 325F for an hour and a half to 2 hours.

For a vegetarian alternative, you may use crumbly tempeh or something similar in place of the pork.


Goulash/Paprikash (Serbian Goulash):
1-1/2 # chicken, cut up in bite size pieces
5-6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3-4 carrots, peeled and cubed
1 large green bell pepper, cubed
Optional onion, large diced
Optional pureed tomato (for color)
1/4 - 1/3 cup paprika
3 TBS garlic powder
1 tsp of salt
pepper to taste (I like a dash of cayenne)

Stew the chicken and veggies in a kettle.  You want the outside to turn white, not brown.  When the onion is tender, add the spices, and allow them to become aromatic.  Add water to about 2" above.  Bring to a boil, and turn down to a simmer.  Cook until flavors are well blended.

For goulash, serve with bread and butter.  For paprikash, add a dollop of sour cream.


Ibanitza -
2 or 3 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
16 - 24 oz sour cream
16 oz cottage cheese
1 stick of butter
8 - 12 eggs
Olive oil
1 box of fillo dough

Grease up 2 9x13 baking pans.  Place about 3 sheets of the fillo dough on the bottom.

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, and eggs.  (The more of the cheeses and sour cream, the more eggs you'll need).  Pour a bit of the mix over the bottom layer of dough.  Place another layer of about 3 sheets of dough over the cheese, and put butter into the corners, and some in the middle.  Add another layer of cheese mix.  The next layer of dough put olive oil.  Keep alternating to the top, with the very top being dough with olive oil.

Bake at 350F until the top is a golden flaky brown.

For only one pan, you'll only need one sleeve of the fillo dough, and 8 oz each of cream cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese, with 5 eggs.