Stuffed collard greens (Japrak/Sarma)
Sarma is a traditional Bosnian dish, often made with cabbage leaves, but Iām partial to the collard greens version myself. This was my first time making it myself, under my momās guidance, of course.
1 large bunch of collard greens
1/2 cup of uncooked rice (I used brown because itās healthier, but traditionally, white rice is used)
1 fresh bushel of parsley
a few celery stalks with leaves
a few thin slices of smoked meat
Some of the ingredients are harder to quantify, so here's a picture of all the veggies I added:
*Vegeta is a Croatian spice mix that is a staple of all cuisines in this region. This kind doesn't have msg and is as good as the original (which comes in a blue bag):
We use it for soup and many traditional dishes, and it is truly amazing. I highly recommend checking out an international food store in your area to pick some up. If you canāt find it, you can just use salt instead, but itās definitely worth the extra effort of buying Vegeta.
To prepare the collard greens:
rinse the leaves individually to clean off any remaining dirt or soil
let them drain for a bit and then stack them in one big pile
fill a large pot about halfway with water and bring to a boil
drop the collard greens into the boiling water in one big stack, making sure to submerge them completely
use a large pair of tongs to flip the whole stack over and re-submerge it
cover the pot, turn off the stove, and let it sit for 5-10 minutes - this will get the leaves soft and pliable so you can roll them
finely dice all the veggies (incl. parsley and celery) - or, better still, chop them coarsely and throw them into the food processor, then blend until everything is diced and mixed, like so:
in a large bowl, mix the ground beef with the diced veggies.
rinse and drain the rice and add it to the meat and veggie mixture
add lots of ground pepper (I asked my mom how much, and she said ālotsā)
add about 3Tbsp of Vegeta
mix all the ingredients until theyāre well incorporated. The best way to do this is to use your hands. You can knead it like dough and just kinda squeeze it together in your fist.
This is the trickiest part of the process, and Iām still getting the hang of it myself!
depending on the size of the collard green leaves, you may need to split some of them in half length-wise before rolling
place a dollop of the filling inside the leaf, closer to the bottom end
fold the bottom of the leaf over the filling and roll it tightly, once or twice, before folding over one side of the leaf over the filling
then continue rolling all the way up and tuck in the other end
hereās how my mom does it:
You can use a regular pot and just cook it that way, but a pressure cooker is easier, so thatās what I did!
cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of thinly sliced smoked meat
layer the rolled sarma in the pot - the individual pieces should be squeezed fairly tightly together, and you will probably have about three layers of them:
add about a cup (maybe less) of water to the pot, just enough to touch the top layer of the sarma but not to submerge it all
lock the lid of the pressure cooker and cook on high heat until at full pressure
let cook at full pressure for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to low to maintain pressure
cook for 15 minutes, remove from heat and let rest 10 minutes
