I probably never even attempted making cabbage rolls because my mom loudly and repeatedly let us know how much work cabbage rolls are. I always requested stuffed cabbage rolls for my birthday, not to punish my mom, but only because I knew it was the only day of the year that I could get away with such a request! And I requested them because I love stuffed cabbage rolls.
My cousin Ann Marie is of Polish decent on the other side of her family. Ann Marie's Polish grandmother always made stuffed cabbage rolls. It's a wonderful family tradition that my cousin has fond memories of. She watched her grandmother make the stuffed cabbage rolls (called golabki or galumpkis) and she told me that they actually aren't that hard to make. So, with my confidence renewed I did it and the results were pretty good!
Here are helpful hints when working with the cabbage - boil the cabbage whole. Leave it in the pot and cut off leaves as you need them.
Use kitchen shears to cut each leaf at the base and remove the leaf to a waiting plate. I cut off the first layer of leaves, worked with them, and let the rest of the cabbage continue to cook. I found that the very outside leaves of the head of cabbage were not good for rolling. Those outside leaves were too thin, but save them! You will use them later!
Also, after you have cooked the filling of meat, rice, and seasonings, divide the filling in the skillet so that you have an equal amount for each cabbage roll as you begin rolling them up.
This is how I put the rolls together: Work on a plate. Lay the leaf flat with the wider portion of the leaf toward you. You can cut out the thick middle stem of the leaf, but I found it unnecessary.
Bring up the top point of the leaf, and pin in place with toothpicks. I used 2 toothpicks for each roll and I made sure my family knew that each roll had 2 toothpicks that they needed to remove.
The work went pretty quickly, and before I knew it I had a plate full of beautiful little cabbage rolls.
My mom's recipe says to lightly brown the rolls on both sides in oil in a skillet. I did this step because it was my first attempt and I wanted to follow the recipe word for word, but honestly, next time I am omitting this step. I asked her why this was necessary, and she said she thinks it is to soften the rolls. Our cabbage was nice and soft, and this extra step takes more time, not mention adding calories from the oil, so next time I'm skipping this step.
In the bottom of a big soup pot, I placed the outside leaves that were not good for rolling. This layer of leaves is a step that I do when cooking Greek dolmas. It prevents the bottom layer of rolls from sticking, and helps keep the moisture in the rolls. Since the process for dolmas and stuffed cabbage are very similar, I decided to incorporate this step.
I layered the the rolls in a big soup pot, and then covered them with the sauce to let them simmer.
My camera was too close to the steaming little cabbage rolls, so the end result picture is a little foggy looking...
But, they were delicious! I am going to try some different things with the seasoning next time too.
I hope my trial and error hints are helpful! Here is the original recipe with my notes in italics added:
Stuffed Cabbage
By: Pat Gray
Mix:
1 lb. ground beef
1 c. cooked rice
1 small chopped onion
1 t. caraway seed
1 t. salt
¼ t. pepper
1 egg
1 head cabbage
*double all filling and sauce ingredients to use one whole head of cabbage
Cook rice according to package directions. Brown ground beef and onion in a skillet. Add the seasoning. Steam 1 head cabbage for only a few minutes. Follow directions above. Trim
off thickest part of stem from 12 leaves. Divide meat mixture in 12 portions,
wrap each in a leaf and fasten with wooden toothpick. Brown rolls in oil.
Add:
1 (16 oz.) can tomato sauce
¼ c. water
Cover; cook slowly for 40 minutes.
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