Cluj-Style Layered Cabbage
Pork Meat Dishes Rice Romanian
With dedication, straight from Cluj-Napoca!
One note: the pork should be fairly fatty, as should the bacon. This time I had ground meat from my mother and it was very lean (I think she didn't want to raise my cholesterol; she does the same with coffee, always adding sugar even though she knows I drink it black, so it doesn't hurt my heart) and you could tell. And definitely use sauerkraut. It's a bit more involved in the sense that you'll be working with about 4 pots in parallel at the start, but it still goes fairly quickly.
Ingredients
650g sauerkraut
150g short-grain rice
500g ground pork (fattier cut)
100g smoked sausage
100g bacon (with plenty of fat)
2 cloves garlic
1 large onion
400ml sour cream
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 heaping teaspoons sweet paprika
7 tablespoons oil
salt
a little lard for greasing the dish (or use oil)
Servings: 8
How to prepare cluj-style layered cabbage
- If the sauerkraut was fermented as shredded cabbage (as I prefer), drain the water (use cheesecloth or squeeze by hand). If the cabbage was fermented whole, slice it very, very thin.
- Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a deep pan, then add the sauerkraut with 1/2 teaspoon pepper, dill, and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. Sauté on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a pot, bring plenty of salted water to a boil and add the rice. Let it boil for 5 minutes, turn off the heat, and leave the rice in the water until needed.
- In another pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and sauté the finely chopped onion. When softened, add the ground meat and fry until it changes color. Turn off the heat and add the crushed garlic, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and a little salt (the sauerkraut is quite salty, don't overdo the salt). Mix well and set aside.
- In a blender or meat grinder, grind the smoked sausage and bacon together.
* All the above operations can be done in parallel to save time. - When all the above ingredients are ready, drain the rice and add a little salt to it.
- Grease an oven-safe dish (I used a 22cm diameter ceramic dish) with lard (or oil) and add a tablespoon of lard to the bottom.
- Start creating layers in the following order:
- one third of the sauerkraut
- half of the ground meat
- half of the rice
- 4 tablespoons sour cream, spread evenly with the back of a spoon
- half of the sausage+bacon mixture
and repeat:
- another third of cabbage
- remaining ground meat
- remaining rice
- 4 tablespoons sour cream, spread evenly
- remaining sausage+bacon mixture
- final layer is the remaining cabbage
Over everything, pour the remaining sour cream, diluted beforehand with 1/2 cup water (or tomato juice, for those who prefer). - Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 1 hour. I placed the dish in an unheated oven, since it was ceramic (to prevent cracking from thermal shock), and added an extra 15 minutes.
Sautéing the cabbage
Boiling the rice
Fried ground meat with seasonings
Grinding sausage with bacon
Layer of cabbage
Layer of ground meat
Layer of rice
Layer of sour cream
Layer of sausage and bacon
Cluj-Style Layered Cabbage
