Cabbage Rolls

[Lifter]

Alix is looking for a cabbage roll recipe, and or some help with same. This is just a basic, starter, so please do assist and chip in with suggestions!

8 large cabbage leaves from a medium size cabbage head
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 egg
12 oz beef stock
1 tspn salt
1/4 tspn pepper
1 tablespoon margerine

Plasce leaves on a large saucepan, cover with water to a depth of 1 inch. Cover, heat to a boil, then remove from heatr. Let stand until leaves wilt.

Mix ground beef lightly with rolled oats, onion, parsley, egg, 2/3 cup of the beef stock, salt and pepper until well blended.

Layout the cabbage leaves flat on the cxounter and divide the meat mixture equally on each. Fold the edges over the filling, and roll up, fastening in place with toothpicks. Attange rolls in a single layer of a shallow six cup baking pan (greased)

Pour balance of beef stock over assembled rolls, dot with margerine, cover, and insert in 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Serve with a tomato sauce.

_____________________________________________________________

Note that this recipe is heavy on meat, and does not include rice; Alix mentions that they use three different types of grain, given her Mom's never recorded recipe. Shredded beef is likewise better than ground beef, a little garlic wouln't hurt in this mix....serving with melted cheese (I'm thinking Asiago, provolone, etc) also works...

Okay readers! Pitch in some ideas and suggestions!

Lifter

 

[Alix]

Lifter you are wonderful. I am copying this. Thanks.

 

[homecook]

Here's a recipe I've been making for years that my Polish grandmother taught me.

1-1/2 lb. ground meat
1 cup cooked rice
1/4 cup minced onion
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper
1 large head cabbage
2 cans tomato soup plus 2 cans water, mixed together.

Cut around core of cabbage, wrap in wax paper and microwave 20 minutes til leaves soften. Separate.
Mix ground meat mixture. Put about 2 T. mixture in cabbage leaf and roll up like a burrito. Cover bottom of roasting pan with cut up leftover cabbage. Lay rolls on top. Cover with more chopped up cabbage. Mix soup and water together and pour over cabbage rolls. Bake at 350°F for 1-1/2 hours. After 1 hour sort of baste the top rolls with the sauce to make sure they don't dry out. Serve with mashed taters!

Barb

 

[Alix]

Thanks Barb. I appreciate all input on this one.

Anyone out there who has a recipe for this, I would love to hear from you.

I am looking for sour cabbage in particular, and for multi grain varieties. I have finally had a chance to talk to Mom, and she recalls using barley, buckwheat and rice. These are cooked together, and then the meat is added later. She also tosses in (note the specific measurements here!!) some chopped onion, and usually some diced salt pork in with the beef as it is cooking. Sigh. I really need someone creative to come work with me on this one.

The tomato sauce is usually just crushed tomatoes with garlic and a wee bit of sugar added.

Thanks all.

 

[Lifter]

Am still waitig for the Wpg Grandfather Ukrainian sort to respond, so I can post the "magic" recipe...
Lifter

(and when I do, it will be seriously good)

 

[Alix]

Waiting...drooling in anticipation!

 

[Claire]

All recipes sound wonderful. My hint is for ease of making them. Take your biggest pot and get that water boiling. Take the head of cabbage and score it with four or five (depending on size) deep cuts along side of the core. Spear on a big meat fork, then toss into the boiling water. As each leaf softens, pull it off. "shave" the spine so that the leaf will roll and fold easily.

This is a hint from my mother-in-law, who I believe was part Slovakian, part Ukranian.

 

[Chopstix]

Lifter - I made a modified version of your cabbage rolls last Wednesday night! Very good! Loved that it had no rice as I'm on a low-carb diet. The oats lent a lovely mushy texture to the meat. I used ground chicken meat instead of beef btw. Also, as I was pressed for time, I sauted the meat mixture until almost-cooked before wrapping in the leaves. (I stored extra filling in the freezer). Then I nuked my rolls in the microwave oven for seven minutes at high with home-made seasoned chicken stock.

Some notes to myself though: Next time I think I'll try whirling the oats in the food chopper first to make the texture consistent throughout. I may not have blended the oats into the meat mixture very well so in some places it was more clumpy. My fault really.

Also, my cabbage leaves became too soft. I may have left them in the boiled water too long. Anways, Thursday night I made cabbage rolls again with the leftover filling and cabbage leaves. This time, I blanched the leaves in some salted water then shocked it in ice water. After wrapping, I nuked the rolls. Guess what? The cabbage leaves wrapping had a great texture!

Since there were two rolls left uneaten, I froze it and had it again for dinner last night, Friday. I just defrosted them in the microwave then nuked it again. Guess what? The cabbage rolls were still as good as the previous night! The texture of the cabbage was still the same!!! Amazing.

Ok. Maybe I won't have cabbage rolls tonight anymore. But maybe I'll consider it again a month from now. Thanks for the recipe Lifter!

 

[Lifter]

WOW!!!

Getting a message like this is akin to the "ultimate compliment"!...

A person in Asia, trying out a N American version of recipe that comes from Asia....!!!

I expect that "quick rolled oats" are different from region to region, let alone continents...and yes, if you have the large leaf ones, putting them through a mill would be the answer, even if these might add to your "carbs", Chopstix!

There are several types of cabbage around, and I was non-specific...using "Savoy" cabbage as a leaf, you would get a really different result from Canadian "backyard cabbage", and so the "language" and "local product" may have interfered here; I regret I do not recall what the cabbage we commonly have here is called, as I don't grow it myself, but have bought Savoy for other projects, and its a case apart...

Shocking the leaves in any case is a great idea, and I'm pencilling that into my recipe book...

Cabbage rolls are one of those things that do freeze well, tho' I'd rather re-heat in the oven rather than a microwave...I believe that microwaving is unsafe and alters the molecular structure of not only foods, but even water, but don't want to get started on that "rant" just now...

Still waiting for "Carol" to email me "Gene's" recipe for the very best product I can recall...and I'm certain that there will be garlic in it... which will add a lot...

Lifter

 

[Chopstix]

Hi Lifter! Actually I don't exactly know what rolled oats are. I haven't seen those in the supermarkets here. I just used instant Quaker oats. Are these very different?

Also, I don't know what the type of cabbage I used was. There are only two kinds of cabbages around here as far as I know. The ordinary round one with the thick core, and the Chinese Cabbage which is rather oblong in shape and the leaves are just connected at the bottom end.

What I used was the round one.

An idea I'm thinking of for a twist in the taste of the cabbage rolls is diced roasted red bell peppers mixed with the ground meat. Will try that next time!

 

[Juliev]

now my aunt's recipe is something like this, but she doesn't use tomato sauce... I dunno.. there is something different in it..but, it's soo good!

 

[Alix]

Bump.

 

[CharlieD]

I don’t about polish cabbage rolls or any other ones, but I tell you Ukrainian cabbage rolls are the only the real ones.

I hate giving out my cooking secrets, but that is what we are all doing here right, so there it is a tip, or actually three.

1. Buy a meat grinder if you haven’t got one by now. It will be indispensable in anybodies kitchen.
2. Grind your own Pork for the cabbage rolls, if pork is unacceptable (I for one do not eat it) use beef, and this is where the third tip comes in.
3. Do not use ground beef alone in almost any dishes. Mix with some other meat, i.e. ground chicken.

Now, last but not list: do not mince the onion, but rather grind it with meat, portion of meat, portion of onion and so on. If you do that you will have a mixture, for the lack of a better word “Homogeneous”, blend, is blend a better word. Big mistake that people make is adding onion to meat it ends up being meat separate and onion separate, and maybe it’s okay for some, but believe me it is not the way cabbage rolls should be.
Now the cabbage itself, do not put it into microwave, boil it and do not discard the water, but rather use that water to cook the rolls in.
Now tomato souse, ketchup, sour cream those are things that are up to you to use it or not. But the main thing is to have solid base, and in this case it is properly prepared meat.

 

[middie]

my family uses a very similar recipe to homecook's.
very yummy

 

[Lifter]

CharlieD, those are fantastic tips!

Thank you VERY MUCH!!!

(And I totally agree on the "Ukrainian Food" thing!)

Lifter

 

[CharlieD]

You are most welcome

 

[Alix]

OK all, I am copying all of these recipes...and will try them out. But my question is to those of you who advocate the use of meat in them. In my family holupchi has always been one of the traditional "meatless" dishes at Christmas. Is this use of meat your own addition or is it a recipe that you have had passed on to you from somewhere else?

BTW Charlie...the onion with the meat in the grinder is a wonderful idea. One of those oh-so-simple things that make you slap your forehead and say "OF COURSE! Why didn't I think of that before???"

 

[beerco]

Ukrainain cabbage rolls

Like Borsch, every Ukrainian Gramma has her own recipe for cabbage rolls, here's my gramma's-in-law:

(p.s. about half the butter may be removed without too much adverse effect on flavor)


Ingredients:


Medium cabbage
4 T. Oil
2 ½ c converted rice (Uncle Ben’s)
6 c water
17 T. butter (2 sticks+1T)
Onion finely chopped
1 ½ lbs. ground beef
3 cans tomato soup
1 can tomato sauce
½ can water
Garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
3-4 stalks celery


Cabbage:
Bring large pot of water to boil. Cut out stem of cabbage and place cut-side down in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Turn over cabbage and remove outer leaves from water when soft. Continue until all leaves are removed. When cool enough to touch remove tough spine on leaves for easier rolling.

Rice:
Bring 6 cups water and one T butter and some salt to boil. Add rice, cover and cook for 18 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 more minutes then pour out any extra water still in pot. Place rice into large bowl for mixing.

Stuffing:
Sauté onions in 8 T butter and enough oil to cover until soft. Pour over rice and mix. Add uncooked ground beef and mix together. Season with garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

Sauce:
Warm together tomato soup, tomato sauce, ½ can water, 8 T butter in saucepan. Bring to almost boil. Add garlic, salt, pepper and other seasonings to taste (bay leave, thyme, oregano, etc.)

Line bottom of roaster with chopped celery and cabbage pieces. Place about two spoonfuls of stuffing in each cabbage leaf and roll. Layer rolls in roaster making sure to leave room for sauce. Pour sauce over rolls and cover with large cabbage leaves to prevent from burning. Cover roaster with double aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 1-1 ½ hours. For even softer cabbage turn off oven and leave for ½ -1 hour more. Enjoy!!

 

[Lugaru]

While I have no contact with the old world cabbage rolls are still one of my specialties with a recipy I got from a pretty antique "time life" cookbook (I bought a set of 50's cookbooks from an antique shop).

Main difference between what I do and what you guys are doing is that I serve mine on a bed of washed sour kraut that has been sauteed with tomato paste and diced tomato. Give it a shot some time, it really adds a nice edge to it and the slight tartness makes the rolls even more addicting.

 

[BlueCat]

Romanian stuffed cabbage is the meal we serve on Christmas and Easter, along with ham. It's made with equal parts pork and rice, along with sauteed onion, salt and lots of pepper. The cabbages are blanched and then rolled and layered with sauerkraut and tomato juice and simmered on top of the stove just to come up to a simmer, then into a slow oven for quite a long time. Some people serve them with sour cream, and bread and butter. They are absolutely delicious.

BC