Arambasici (Croatian Sour Cabbage Rolls)
Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 18 Steps 11
Arambašići are a speciality from Sinj, Croatia. Unlike some other cabbage rolls, which use fresh leaves, these are rolled up in whole pickled cabbage leaves.
Ingredients
- 600 g beef (best from the neck), finely chopped
- 150 g smoked ham or bacon, finely chopped
- 50–60 g suet from ox kidneys, finely chopped
- 200 g pork, finely chopped
- Mutton (optional), finely chopped
- 2 large onions, chopped
- Some garlic
- Cloves
- Grated lemon rind
- Salt
- Pepper
- Some ground cinnamon
- 2–3 cloves, crushed
- 1 grind nutmeg
- 1 head of whole pickled cabbage (sauerkraut) or fresh white of grape leaves
- Smoked pork
- Smoked ham or tongue
- Broth or water
Steps
- Combine beef, ham, suet, pork and mutton in a bowl.
- Add chopped onions, garlic cloves, grated lemon rind, salt, pepper, a little cinnamon, crushed cloves and ground nutmeg.
- Mix well. Knead by hand if desired.
- Separate leaves from the sauerkraut head. Set aside the better ones for stuffing.
- Cut away part of the leaf stalk at the base.
- Add a spoonful of meat mixture to each leaf.
- Roll from the base. Fold ends together well so rolls hold during cooking.
- Put 1 spoonful of grease in a deep stoneware casserole dish.
- Pack rolls tightly in layers. Layer smoked meat between the layers.
- Pour broth or water over the rolls. Cover tightly. Cook 3–4 hours over low heat.
- Shake the casserole several times. Do not stir.
Notes from the original
- It is best to pre-cook the Arambašici in the evening, and on the following day cook until done.
- Apart from other ingredients, fresh sauerkraut is the most important for good and tasty Arambašici.
- Arambašici is also delicious in the summer. Should you not be able to find any sauerkraut in the summer, you can also use fresh cabbage or grape leaves. Sort out the leaves and blanch them with boiling water to soften them. Fill with the Arambašici mixture and cook in the same manner as with the sauerkraut leaves.
- Chopping the meat is better than running through a grinder, and in this way it retains more of its flavour.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Arambasici (Croatian Sour Cabbage Rolls)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-16, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.