There is a large selection of stuffed and wrapped vegetables in Turkish cuisine. Vegetables and leaves are stuffed with or wrapped around fillings made of rice, bulgur, meats and fish and served hot or cold. “Sarma” is made with mostly vine leaves. The recipe below for”pazı sarması”  uses the dark green leaves of Swiss Chard. These “sarma” are served hot as a main course meal, topped with yogurt and an optional sauce made with grated tomato and butter.

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 large bunches of Swiss chard or collard greens
• 500 grams ground beef
• 300 grams ground lamb
• 1 large onion, grated and drained
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. dried mint
• 2 tbsp. uncooked rice

How to prepare:

1. Cut off the stems of Swiss chard and wash the leaves. Boil a large pot of water. Blanch the leaves small bunches at a time by gently submerging them in the boiling water.

2. Boil each bunch for two to three minutes. Remove them and run them under cold water immediately. As the leaves are blanched, drain them well and put them aside. Make sure not to damage the leaves.

3. Knead all the other ingredients together for several minutes until well blended for the meat filling.

 4. Prepare an area where you can comfortably cut and wrap your “sarma.”. Ideally a cutting board or a plate on top of which canl cut and wrap leaves and a small, sharp knife that can cut the leaves with clean lines.

5. Have your leaves, your filling and a large, shallow pan for cooking the “sarma” next to your work area.

6. Take the first leaf and place its shiny side down on the cutting board. Use your knife to cleanly cut the stem off.

7. Cut the leaf into three pieces. One triangular-shaped piece at the top and 2 separate pieces from each side where you removed the stem. If the leaves are large, you can have five pieces by cutting the sides into two.

8. Pinch off a small piece of the meat filling about the size of a peanut, and put it on the center bottom of the triangle in an oblong shape.

9. Fold both sides of the leaf over the edges of the meat, roll from the bottom toward the tip.

10. Place the “sarma” roll with the seam side down in your cooking pan. Repeat the above steps until you run out of ingredients. Make sure the edges of the leaf are always neatly tucked in and there is no meat exposed when the “sarma” is completely wrapped.

11. Once all of the “sarma” are in the pan, add enough water to cover the sarma about ½ inch. Add one tablespoon of olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt.

12. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat and cover the pan. Let the “sarma” simmer very gently until most of the water disappears and the rolls are tender.

13. Do not damage your “sarma” while serving. Top them with one or two spoons of whipped plain yogurt.

14. You can add hot sauce made from 1 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon tomato paste, water, salt and pepper over the top. Cook these ingredients together for about 2 minutes and drizzle over the cold yogurt.