Baked in Bosnia Catering: Sarma or Spaetzle, the Red Cabbage on the Plate, and How to Order for a Seattle Office

Baked in Bosnia is a Seattle catering kitchen that cooks Balkan and German plates, and its own site sums it up in three words: “European & Balkan Inspired.” On Zerocater its menu reads in two languages. Sarma, punjene paprike and cufte sit next to spaetzle, Rotkohl and apfelkuchen, and most plates put a German side next to the main.

One pattern makes the order easy. Seventeen mains print what comes on the plate with them, and sixteen of the seventeen name Rotkohl, the German braised red cabbage. The meat or vegetable changes, and so does the starch under it. The cabbage stays. So choose the main, then the starch; the red cabbage comes with the plate. This guide counts the plates so you can order in a few minutes.

A Baked in Bosnia menu in two languages

The kitchen’s own descriptions say where each dish comes from. Sarma is “Balkan comfort food,” punjene paprike is “a rustic Balkan” dish, the cufte are “Bosnian style meatballs,” and the spaetzle is made “just like in Germany.” Counted once per dish, across the mains, sides, small plates and desserts, the home words count like this:

So the Balkan word covers four dishes, the Bosnian word three and the German word five, and the goulash brings a “Hungarian paprika sauce.” The rest of the menu uses no home word at all: the saute plates say “European seasonings,” the eggplant stew says “a melting pot of flavors from around Europe.” For a team lunch that means you can order a Balkan plate and a German plate side by side and they still match, because the red cabbage ties them together.

If the names are new to your team, here is the short glossary. Sarma: cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef and rice. Punjene paprike: peppers stuffed with minced beef, rice and vegetables. Cufte: meatballs. Kupus salata: shredded cabbage and onion in a vinaigrette. Spaetzle: small egg noodles. Rotkohl: braised red cabbage. Princes krofna: a cream puff with custard and whipped cream.

The red cabbage on the plate

Of the sixty-one lines under Entrees on the Zerocater page, thirty-four spell out what comes with the main, in a sentence that starts “Served with” or “atop a bed of.” Each of those dishes is listed twice, once with “(21oz)” in its name, so there are seventeen plated dishes in all. Count each dish once.

Sixteen of the seventeen name Rotkohl. The one that does not is the Creamy Chana Masala, chickpeas in a coconut cream sauce, which comes with quinoa. Every other plate, from the goulash to the stuffed peppers to the gravy pappardelle, puts the braised red cabbage next to its starch. The kitchen writes it as “enchanting rotkohl” on most lines, and as plain “rotkohl” on a few.

That gives a planner one fixed point. On sixteen plates you never add a vegetable side, and the same purple stripe sits on the plate whichever main a guest picks. Our German catering page explains why the cabbage suits a rich plate; this kitchen puts it on sixteen of seventeen.

The starch is the part that changes

Read the seventeen plates by what sits under the main and they split six ways:

Garlic mashed potatoes lead with seven plates, and they carry both stuffed dishes, the sarma and the punjene paprike, plus the vegetable stuffed peppers. Basmati rice takes four, cauliflower mashers and egg noodles take two each, and spaetzle and quinoa take one apiece. The full list:

The same main can come on more than one starch. The Beef Goulash comes on garlic mashed potatoes or on cauliflower mashers. The Veggie Saute comes on either of those or on basmati rice. Roasted chicken under gravy comes on mashed potatoes as Chicken & Gravy, with a mushroom onion gravy, or on egg noodles as Pappardelle Gravy & Chicken, with a creamy onion gravy, and the cufte come on the egg noodles too. So when a guest asks for the goulash without potatoes, the answer is a different line, not a special request.

Seven of the seventeen plates name no meat or poultry: three Veggie Saute plates, the Fried Eggplant Stew, the Bean Stew, the Vegan Stuffed Peppers and the Creamy Chana Masala. The four saute plates, three vegetable and one chicken, also come with a side of “spicy beet sauce,” which the kitchen calls “neon pink” on one plate. Many plated lines also carry the word “Halal” in their name; our halal office catering guide covers how to plan for that.

Mains that print no side

The other mains read differently. Thirteen main lines, leaving out the salads and the breakfast lines, describe the main alone: the Beef Goulash, the Sarma, the Spicy Chicken Paprikash, the Cufte Meatballs & Gravy, the German Chicken & Mushroom Stew and eight more. Those lines name no starch and no Rotkohl.

The Sides list fills the gap. It sells Rotkohl on its own (two listings), plus spaetzle, garlic mashed potatoes, garlic cauliflower mashers and basmati rice, so you can rebuild the plate by hand: one of those mains, one starch, the Rotkohl. The same list adds two more cabbage sides, the kupus salata and a pickled, fried cabbage, and a German potato salad.

Small plates and European cakes

The Appetizers list carries nine small plates, and several of them borrow from the mains. The cufte come seared on a skewer over cream sauce. The kroketten are fried mashed potato balls with a cheesy center. The šopska salata, which the kitchen calls a Mediterranean salad, comes in phyllo cups. A veggie phyllo bite with mushroom jus, beef stuffed mushroom caps and chicken kebab skewers round out the list, which suits a reception where guests stand.

The desserts follow the same two languages: apfelkuchen (German apple cake), erdbeerkuchen mit schmand (strawberry cream cake), Schwarzwalder (Black Forest cake), bee sting cake, a pistachio torte and an almond butter pie on the German side, and princes krofna and a walnut baklava the kitchen calls “Bosnian style” on the other.

How to order Baked in Bosnia for an office

Choose the main, then the starch; the red cabbage comes with the plate. In practice that takes four steps:

1. Collect the headcount and note the guests who skip meat or poultry.
2. Pick two or three mains from the plated list above, mixing a Balkan plate with a German one if you like.
3. Pick each main’s starch by picking its line: potatoes, cauliflower mashers or rice where the main comes more than one way.
4. For any main that prints no side, add a starch and the Rotkohl from the Sides list, then confirm the current menu with the kitchen.

Hearty plates like these suit a long sit-down lunch: an all-hands, a lunch and learn or an employee appreciation lunch.

Plan Baked in Bosnia with CaterAi

Who Baked in Bosnia suits

• Seattle offices that want a plated lunch with a side already on the plate.
• Mixed rooms, where seven plates that name no meat sit next to goulash and stuffed peppers on the same red cabbage.
• Teams that rotate cuisines and have not had Balkan food yet.
• Receptions that want cufte skewers, kroketten and phyllo cups, then a European cake.

How to order Baked in Bosnia catering

You can order direct with the kitchen. Or you can order through Zerocater, where the Baked in Bosnia page carries the current menu and a live quote. CaterAi builds a menu from that list for your headcount, and how Zerocater works covers the rest of the order. For a standing weekly rotation, Zerocater manages office catering across kitchens like this one.

Baked in Bosnia is one of many kitchens on Zerocater in the city. Seattle catering lists the rest, and the Eastern European page covers the wider region. For budgets, see our Seattle office catering cost guide, and for larger events our Seattle corporate event catering list. Veselka is another Eastern European kitchen we have profiled.

Menus change. Confirm the current menu with the kitchen before you order. For the current menu and a live quote, use the Baked in Bosnia page on Zerocater.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Baked in Bosnia cater?

Plated Balkan and German mains, side dishes, small plates and European cakes, from a Seattle catering kitchen. The menu names its dishes in two languages: sarma and punjene paprike next to spaetzle, Rotkohl and apfelkuchen.

What is Rotkohl?

Rotkohl is braised red cabbage, a German side. At Baked in Bosnia it comes on sixteen of the seventeen mains that print what they are served with, and the Sides list sells it on its own as well.

Which Baked in Bosnia plate comes without Rotkohl?

One: the Creamy Chana Masala, a chickpea dish in coconut cream, which comes with quinoa. Every other plated main on the Zerocater page names Rotkohl next to its starch.

Can I choose the starch?

Choose it through the line you order. The same main appears on more than one starch: the Beef Goulash on garlic mashed potatoes or cauliflower mashers, and the Veggie Saute on either of those or on basmati rice. For a main that prints no side, add a starch and the Rotkohl from the Sides list.

What are sarma and punjene paprike?

Sarma is cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef and rice. Punjene paprike is peppers stuffed with seasoned minced beef, rice and vegetables. The kitchen calls both dishes Balkan, and both come on garlic mashed potatoes with Rotkohl.

How do you order Baked in Bosnia catering?

Two routes. Direct, with the kitchen. Or through Zerocater, where the Baked in Bosnia page carries the current menu and a live quote, and the order sits alongside every other kitchen your office uses.

Plan Baked in Bosnia with CaterAi

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