Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
No summer cookout is complete without a tray of stuffed cabbages rolls ! Tender cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, seasoned ground meats and a rich tomato sauce make this the perfect summer comfort food. Plus this freezes beautifully!
This dish, God this dish brings back so many childhood memories that I literally sat here for 30 minutes in a daze just remembering some of them. Like there was the time we were harvesting cabbages from our garden and we each got to pick a single plant that we were in charge of to take care of.
Ingredients:
To make these yummy Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, you will need for :
Cabbage Rolls:
- 1 large head green cabbage
- 1 kg (2 lbs) ground beef
- 2 eggs
- 1 medium onion, grated or minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup raw long-grain white rice
Tomato Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped (medium dice)
- 2 cans tomato sauce
- juice of one lemon
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chopped parsley, for garnish
Directions:
Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a rolling boil. When the water comes to a boil, fill a large bowl with ice water. Cut out as much of the core as you can from the bottom of the cabbage, then drop the whole, cored head into the boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes.
Once the leaves separate and are pliable, immediately remove and drop the blanched leaves that separated (keep the pot of water boiling) in the ice water. Once cooled down, remove and pat the leaves dry. Repeat with any leaves still attached to the head and not pliable, until you've gotten all the leaves off the head, and they are all soft and pliable.
Set aside about 16 of the largest leaves and slice off any thick parts of the vein on each of them, or, just cut out the thick vein since that part will be covered once the cabbage leaf is rolled. Chop some of the remaining cabbage leaves to make 1 cup of chopped cabbage, and reserve.
Mix the ground beef with the eggs, grated onion, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and rice. Divide the meat mixture into sixteen pieces. Form the pieces into thick cylinders. Place a cylinder of filling near the bottom of a cabbage leaf.
Roll the meat filled cabbage leaf up, folding both sides over the filling, (like you see in the above photos) and finish rolling to enclose the filling, like an eggroll. Continue, filling and rolling all the cabbage leaves. Place them seam side down, on a tray or baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 180°C (350° F).
Over medium heat, melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Sauté the second onion until soft and golden. Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes, then add the reserved 1 cup chopped cabbage and sauté for about 30 seconds to 1 minute more.
Add the tomato sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste, and stir to combine. Increase the heat until it comes to a boil, then lower it and simmer for 5 minutes. Add raisins now, if using.
Line of the bottom of a roasting pan or glass dish with a layer of sauce. Place cabbage rolls, seam side down, on top of sauce. Top cabbage rolls with remaining sauce then cover the whole pan with tin foil. Bake for 2 hours.
Enjoy your Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
