Would Anyone Here Actually Eat Stuffed Cabbages Rolls
I spent many years enjoying my grandmother’s recipe for stuffed cabbage rolls.
A filling of rice and meat is baked inside tender cabbage leaves together with a basic tomato sauce.
Depending on the geography and traditions of the family, there are countless variations on the recipe for cabbage rolls. Polish cabbage rolls often have rice and meat, but my friend Penny’s Ukrainian version usually just has rice.
While some add raw meat and rice and cook them with the cabbage, our family has always pre-cooked the rice and meat.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium head cabbage (3 pounds)
- 1/2 pound uncooked ground beef
- 1/2 pound uncooked ground beef
- 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce, divided
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon snipped fresh dill or dill weed
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Directions:
- Cook cabbage in boiling water just until outer leaves pull away easily from head.
- Set aside 12 large leaves for rolls.
- In a small bowl, combine the beef, beef, 1/2 cup tomato sauce, onion, rice, parsley, salt, dill and cayenne; mix well.
- Cut out the thick vein from the bottom of each leaf, making a V-shaped cut.
- Place about 1/4 cup meat mixture on a cabbage leaf
- overlap cut ends of leaf.
- Fold in sides. Beginning from the cut end, roll up. Repeat.
- Slice the remaining cabbage; place in a Dutch oven.
- Arrange the cabbage rolls seam side down over sliced cabbage. Combine the tomatoes, sugar and remaining tomato sauce
- pour over the rolls.
- Cover and bake at 350° until cabbage rolls are tender, 1-1/2 hours.
Tips for Great Cabbage Rolls
- For the most tender cabbage leaves, boil them in salted water.
- Cut 1/2 inch off the head of cabbage, the leaves will fall off as they cook.
- Once boiled, use a small knife to cut the thick stem of the leaf (image above).
- Overlap smaller leaves and fill, even if they’re not pretty, they’ll cook perfectly.
- You may have leftover filling depending on the size of your cabbage. Extra filling can be added to tomato soup or stuffed in zucchini or bell peppers.
- Cabbage rolls can be frozen before or after baking.