Cabbage with Beef and Pork

Cabbage is very low in saturated fat and cholesterol. It is rich in Protein, Thiamin, Calcium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium, Potassium and Manganese.

Cabbage is commonly found in any grocery stores, it is inexpensive, but most people don't include it in their diet. Why? Maybe they don't know a good recipe? Here is one, it is easy to make, doesn't cost much money, and most importantly- it is healthy.

In Serbia, we eat a lot of sour cabbage, especially over winter months. In the spring time, when fresh cabbage is available again, we switch to making this meal, which we also call "sweet cabbage", indicating that is it not sour, even though there is nothing sweet about it.

You can vary the measures depending on what you have and what you like. if you like carrots or tomatoes, add more. But in the ballpark, this is how it goes...


Ingredients:
1 cabbage
1 large yellow onion, sliced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 steak, cut into about 1in pieces
1 pork chop, cut up
1 carrot
1-2 potatoes, cut in quarters
1 bell pepper, sliced
3 roma tomatoes
oil salt and pepper
bay leaf
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp paprika water


Saute the onions in a little bit of oil over medium / high heat for a couple of minutes.


Add beef and pork. Stir. Add more oil if needed. Brown the meat, add salt and pepper. You may also use seasoning salt, but this is optional.


Split the cabbage head into two halves and core them.


Cut the cabbage and cover the bottom of the crock pot with these pieces.


Add a layer of meet, onions, potatoes and carrots.


Place bell pepper slices over the meat layer.


Cover everything with one more layer of cabbage.


Grate the tomatoes and discard the peel.


Pour grated tomato over the cabbage. Add salt and pepper. Add water so that the water level would be about 1in below the top of the cabbage/ tomatoes. Cook on high for 6 hours. This can also be cooked on the stove as well, over low heat, covered.


When the cabbage is done cooking, transfer some water from the meal into a separate cup and mix with flour and paprika. Mix well, then transfer back into the crock pot and stir. Cook for 15 more minutes.

Serve with fresh bread.


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Grow your own cabbage:

Sarma ala Zorana & Mama (Serbian = Сарма)

Sarma one of the most common Serbian dishes. Sarma in Turkish means "wrapping". Although we wrap many different kinds of leaves, sarma commonly refers to wrapped sour cabbage leaves.

Sarmas in Serbia are made with smoked pork ribs and absorb a nice smoky flavor as they simmers for a long time. Since it is not easy to get good smoked meat here, my mom and I made this experiment to see how we can make good sarmas with ingredients you are easily found at the supermarket. Of course you will have to get sour cabbage at a specialty store. We found this at the Rose Market, a Persian store in Mountain View.


Ingredients:

20 sour cabbage leaves (whole)
2 yellow onions, minced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 lbs ground beef
0.5 lbs ground pork
1 smoked polish sausage, 1/2 shredded in the food processor, and 1/2 sliced
1.5 cups white rice
8 bacon slices, 3 slices minced, and 5 sliced left whole
1/4 cup oil
2 tbsp paprika
1.5 tsp Vegeta or another vegetable based seasoning salt and pepper
3 bay leaves
several dried red peppers (optional)

Prepare all the ingredients- mince onions and garlic, cut up the bacon and shred 1/2 of the sausage.

Heat the oil in a pan. When the oil is hot enough, add bacon and allow it to cook for several minutes. Bacon should not be crispy, so don't overcook it.

Add onions and garlic, and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the meat: ground pork, ground beef and shredded sausage. Now, it is important to stir the meat well and break up the lumps, especially if your meat was previously frozen.

When the meat looks cooked, add rice and mix well.

Now that you have a good mixture of onions, garlic, meats and rice, add paprika, Vegeta, salt and pepper. Be generous on paprika and pepper, but do not go overboard with salt, as the cabbage leaves are already very salty. Mix well.

Turn off the burner and allow the meat to cool down a bit while you prepare the cabbage leaves.

Take the cabbage leaves out of the jar carefully, so that they don't rip. Rinse them and stack them into a plate. If any leaves are very large, you may cut them in half.

Get your crock pot ready. Please a couple of slices on bacon on the bottom, and any smaller or ripped cabbage pieces. Cabbage is not necessary here unless you have some pieces to spare.

Now you are ready to wrap sarmas. Make an assembly line- cabbage leaves on the left, meat in the middle, and crock pot on the right.
1. Hold one cabbage leaf in your left hand. Place about 2 scoops of a meat fill with a wooden spoon.
2. Fold the cabbage leaf
3. Fold the two sides
4. Wrap tightly
5. Praise your sarma
6. Place it into the crock pot


In order to get good at sarma wrapping, you need a lot of practice. Here is a short video of my mom wrapping sarmas that might help you start.

Once you cover the bottom of the crock pot, add some sausage slices in between sarmas, then stack the rest of the sarma on top. You will need to make a second level.

When you are done with the second level, use the leftover sausage slices to put in between the sarmas on the second level, add the bay leaves as well, then cover the sarmas with the remaining cabbage leaves, bacon slices and dried peppers if you have any. Dried peppers are not a traditional way of making sarmas, but they add a great flavor and I would recommend adding them to this dish if you can find some. But please, don't use the spicy ones, this dish is not meant to be spicy, as it has a great flavor already that should not be overpowered by a hot pepper.

Rinse the flavors from the pan with water, and then use that water to fill the crock pot.

Fill to water to almost over the sarmas.

Cook on low for 9 hours.

Serve with fresh baguette on the side. Sarmas are good reheated, and taste even better the next day.


Also see collard greens sarma.



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Slow Cooked Roast

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs thick marbled steak
2 onions, sliced
1 can tomato paste
1 cup red wine

Spices: salt, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, pepper, mixed seasoning

Heat the oil in the frying pan, and while that's heating up apply generous amount of spices on both sides of the steak. Brown the meat well on both sides on high heat to seal the juices. It is a good idea to cover it or it will spray all over your stove. When the meat looks like the picture below on both sides, transfer it to the crock pot.

In the same pan fry the onions until they become slightly soft. You may want to add more spices at this point if you like.

Add tomato paste and stir well.


Add wine and stir again.

Transfer the sauce to the crock pot to cover the meat.

If the meat is not covered completely, add more wine or just water.

Cover and cook on high for 8 hours or on low for 10-12 hours.

Serve over pasta or rice. We ate this with cheese raviolis and it was very good. This roast also makes great leftovers. I had this for lunch the next 2 days. If you finish all the meat and have some sauce left, you can blend it into a smooth sauce for your pasta.


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If you haven't gotten a slow cooker yet, now is the time. You will use it. Just imagine coming home form work and smelling a fresh hot meal. Yes, your slow cooker can do the cooking while you are at work. Just combine all the ingredients before you leave, and when you return home your dinner will be waiting for you.

Beef Roast

The prep time for this dish is realistically about 20-30 minutes. Then you let your slow cooker do the rest (about 6-8 hours).

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the plate since we wolfed it down so quickly.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs beef roast (make sure the meat has plenty of fat in it)
1 red onion, sliced or chopped
3-5 garlic cloves, chopped
1-3 jalapenos, sliced or chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
oil salt and pepper or seasoning salt
red wine (quantity will depend on the size of your crock pot)

First, brown the meat- season the meat and fry in oil in a pan on high heat for about 5 minutes on each side. This will seal the juices and will add flavor to your roast. When the meat is done, transfer it into the slow cooker, fat side up.

Add onions, garlic and jalapenos into the frying pan and stir for a couple of minutes.


Transfer them into the slow cooker as well. Then add the tomatoes and wine to almost cover the meat.

Cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8 hours. The meat should come out tender and fall apart easily.

Serve over potatoes or pasta. I boiled several potatoes with skins, then cut them up in everyone's plate and put some sauce from the crock pot over them.



Featured products:

If you haven't gotten a slow cooker yet, now is the time. You will use it. Just imagine coming home form work and smelling a fresh hot meal. Yes, your slow cooker can do the cooking while you are at work. Just combine all the ingredients before you leave, and when you return home your dinner will be waiting for you.

Slow cooked steak

Ingredients:

4 lbs thick steaks with bone and fat
1 medium size onion
5 cloves garlic
Mixed seasoning for rub
1 can diced tomatoes
Oil
Red wine
Salt and pepper

Chose thick fatty steaks on a bone at your supermarket. I recommend using fatty meat in slow cooking because it forms a nice thick sauce and the meat doesn't dry out. The fat will melt and the meat will be tender and juicy. The bone is also important because it will give the sauce a good flavor. The bone will fall off the meat during cooking and can easily be removed. Rub a thick layer of mixed seasoning onto both sides of steaks. I use Cajun spice mix, but you can use any that contains some salt, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, crushed pepper, etc.

Heat the oil in the frying pan and brown the meat for about 5 minutes per side, until the meat is dark brown. Don't worry about cooking the meat all the way through, it will cook in the crock pot. Browning will seal the tasty juices in. When the meat is dark enough, transfer it into the crock pot. Then add whole or coarsely chopped garlic cloves and in the hot oil and and stir them till they are brown too. Deglaze the pan with wine and add that to the crock pot as well.

Add tomatoes and finely chopped onions. Then add more wine so that the meat is completely immersed in liquids. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix the sauce around the meat. Again, make sure that the meat is completely covered with sauce so that it doesn't dry out. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours and then on low for another 4 hours, or just on low for 8-9 hours.

When the meat is fully cooked, it will fall apart and the bones will pull of easily. Serve over pasta or mashed potatoes.






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Everyone should own a crock pot! They are cheap and very useful. Even though crock pot dishes are cooked for many hours, generally they don't require much time in preparation.

Put some meat, veggies and spices in your slow cooker in the morning, and when you are back from work, you have a healthy and tasty meal.

I like Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 slow cooker because you can make 3 different size meals. If you feel like cooking just one small piece of meat- you can do it. This is not possible in large crock pots (which most kinds are) because you would have to use way too much sauce (wine, broth, oil, etc) to cover the meat and prevent it from drying out.