Cabbage Rolls

 

Cooking over the Holidays

Nicole here, back after a long hiatus and much needed break. Cooking over the Holidays is a special feature within the Cooking with Colour food blog that highlights heritage and seasonal recipes cooked with family and dear friends. Our third collaboration entry of this special feature is Cabbage Rolls with our special guest, Ivana and Nemanja.

Again, I cannot think of a better way to spend the extended winter season here in Ottawa, than to spend an afternoon cooking and preparing wonderful food in good company. If you have help in the kitchen freezing cabbage rolls on mass can help save time throughout the winter season when visitors drop by as we await the arrival of spring.

While we are using minced pork for this recipe to balance the sweet with the sour, you could also switch minced pork for lamb for a distinct, hearty meal.  

 Alcohol Pairing:

German or Czech Pilsner or Pinot Noir/Cotes du Rhone with good acidity

Yields: 28-31 individual cabbage rolls (depending on cabbage)

What you Need

Vegetable oil

1 medium onion

2 lbs. minced pork (or ground lamb)

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. ground black pepper.

1 tbsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. Vegeta

¾ cup (200 ml) parboiled rice, rinsed and uncooked

1 Sour Cabbage Head (St. Jacobs’)

2 bay leaves

Water

How to Make it Happen

1.  Chop the onion and sauté in 1-2 tsp. of vegetable oil until translucent.
2.  Mix the chopped onion with minced meat and combine with garlic powder and black   pepper.
3.  Add the smoked paprika and Vegeta into the minced meat mixture until combined.
4.  Next, add the rinsed, parboiled rice into the minced meat mixture and stir until all   ingredients are integrated together. Set aside the meat mixture. 
5.  Now, peel each individual cabbage leaf (as if you were peeling an onion), stacking each   separate leaf on a platter to prepare for cabbage roll assembly.

6. Once all of the leaves are stacked, remove the central piece or heart of the cabbage. You'll know when you reach the heart of the cabbage when the leaves are no longer suitable to hold their shape. Reserve the cabbage heart for later to make a side salad for the dish. 

7. Use the short cabbage leaves to line the bottom of your pot for cooking.  

 8.  Now, coat your hands in vegetable oil and thoroughly mix the meat mixture with             your hands to ensure all ingredients are incorporated together.

9   To create a cabbage roll, set the spine of the leaf closest to you, adding 1                         tablespoon of  the  minced meat mixture. Now flatten and spread the minced meat         along the base of the leaf. 

10. Tightly roll each cabbage leaf and when finished, fold both ends underneath the cabbage roll, as if you were wrapping a small parcel. Place cabbage rolls (with folded ends down) in your lined pot and arrange them close together for ease of cooking. 

 11. Repeat steps 9-10 until all cabbage leaves and minced meat are finished.

12. Add 2 bay leaves to the pot filled with cabbage rolls and fill the remaining spaces with cold water. Bring the pot to a boil on medium-high heat, then reduce, cooking on low for 2 hours. Once ready, serve with sour cream or horseradish.