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Shared by Miri and Yoav Polachek

A Stuffed Cabbage Five Generations Strong

Family Journey

Transylvania, RomaniaNetanya, IsraelLexington, Massachusetts
Tel AvivNew York CityTel Aviv
3 recipes
Sarmale (Romanian Stuffed Cabbage)

Sarmale (Romanian Stuffed Cabbage)

12 to 14 servings3 h and 30 min

Ingredients

For the stuffed cabbage

  • 2 large green cabbages
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ large yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • ½ tablespoon sweet paprika
  • ¾ cup chopped parsley
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup basmati rice

For the sauce

  • 12 ounces tomato paste
  • 3 cups water 
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce (optional)
  • 1 lb sauerkraut
  • 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Romanian Eggplant Salad

Romanian Eggplant Salad

8 servingsAbout 35 min

Ingredients

For the salad

  • 3 medium eggplants
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt 
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the garnish

  • ½ medium yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tomato, halved and thinly sliced
Chopped Liver With Caramelized Onions

Chopped Liver With Caramelized Onions

10 to 15 servingsAbout 1 h and 40 min

Ingredients

For the marinated liver

  • 2 pounds chicken liver, room temperature
  • ¼ cup red wine or sake
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the pan

  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 large light green peppers, roughly chopped
  • ¼ cup red wine
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

For the food processor

  • 1 apple, cored and roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro

For the topping

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
Recipes
1
Sarmale (Romanian Stuffed Cabbage)

Sarmale (Romanian Stuffed Cabbage)

12 to 14 servings3 h and 30 min

Ingredients

For the stuffed cabbage

  • 2 large green cabbages
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ large yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • ½ tablespoon sweet paprika
  • ¾ cup chopped parsley
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup basmati rice

For the sauce

  • 12 ounces tomato paste
  • 3 cups water 
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce (optional)
  • 1 lb sauerkraut
  • 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
2
Romanian Eggplant Salad

Romanian Eggplant Salad

8 servingsAbout 35 min

Ingredients

For the salad

  • 3 medium eggplants
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt 
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the garnish

  • ½ medium yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tomato, halved and thinly sliced
3
Chopped Liver With Caramelized Onions

Chopped Liver With Caramelized Onions

10 to 15 servingsAbout 1 h and 40 min

Ingredients

For the marinated liver

  • 2 pounds chicken liver, room temperature
  • ¼ cup red wine or sake
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the pan

  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 large light green peppers, roughly chopped
  • ¼ cup red wine
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

For the food processor

  • 1 apple, cored and roughly chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro

For the topping

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped

As we settle in for an afternoon of cooking at Miri and Yoav Polachek’s home in north Tel Aviv, Miri offers a disclaimer: “There are no [written] recipes in this house.” Yoav, a professional jazz musician, is the main cook in the home, with Miri acting as his sous chef. Much like in his recording studio, Yoav improvises in the kitchen. Improvising, “that’s my life,” he explains. 

Still, there are recipes in their home with deep roots like cabbage stuffed with meat and rice and cooked slowly in a tomato sauce, a simple and light eggplant salad that’s served with raw onion and challah, and a rich and roughly chopped liver. 

The first two come from Miri’s family. The recipes trace back to Miri’s paternal grandmother Ema Lazar Abraham and her mother Sara who died in Auschwitz. Ema was in her 20s when the second World War broke out, Miri explains. Living in Transylvania, a region of modern day Romania, she was spared for much of the war. They “only came for the Jews there in 1944,” Miri explains. Ema was sent to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz and survived, returning to Transylvania, after the war ended.

In the early 1960s, the family made Aliyah, resettling in Netanya, a city in the north of Israel, bringing Sara’s stuffed cabbage, called sarmale, with them. Ema was the type of grandmother who liked to cook the dishes her family loved. “She made everyone the dish they liked. We had foods named after us,” Miri explains. For Miri, it was a cake. And, “It was well known that Yoav loved stuffed cabbage,” Miri explains. 

“She made everyone the dish they liked. We had foods named after us”

Twenty years ago, Yoav explains, he asked Ema to teach him the family sarmale recipe. She agreed and told him to come at a specific time. When he arrived, most of the recipe was already made. Perhaps it was her desire to keep the recipe a secret, or she simply wanted to finish her work for the day early, no one is certain. Fortunately, having attended culinary training courses when he lived in New York, Yoav was able to recreate the recipe. Today, in Miri and Yoav’s home, it’s made periodically throughout the year, served on its own or over simple mashed potatoes.

And Yoav isn't the only one to make sarmale in the family. Miri’s mother Carmela keeps the sarmale tradition going in Boston. The recipe is cherished up and down the generations. In Israel, children are often assigned a “roots” project in school where they explore their family history. One of Miri and Yoav’s children focused his on the family’s sarmale — making him the fifth generation in the family to know and love the recipe.