Stuffed Cabbage Rolls: Cook-Off 36

[Pam R]

I made a batch of chicken ones last week. I liked them a lot -- they were lighter than the beef ones (obviously?). I'll try to get the pictures up tonight.

[maurdel]

I made a batch of chicken ones last week. I liked them a lot -- they were lighter than the beef ones (obviously?).  I'll try to get the pictures up tonight.

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thanks Pam R, did you need to add any extra fat? if so what did you use?

I'm thinking I could just add olive oil to the filling, and the bottom of the pot.

[Jaymes]

I have some buckwheat I did not know what to do with it.

It's a story for another thread, but many, many folks think buckwheat pancakes are the best. We always have buckwheat in our house.

[maurdel]

Yes Jaymes,

I do buckwheat pancakes. yumyum!

I meant to say that I also have some of the whole grains that I did not know what to do with. I'm assuming that in the cabbage filling the buckwheat would be added in whole grain form.

I haven't checked any recipes yet though.

[dockhl]

I've used ground turkey (just fine) and finely chopped cauliflower for the rice (low carb). Not bad !

[Mikeb19]

Mikeb19, it's good to know that going vegie is a real dish. I have some buckwheat I did not know what to do with it. It's a funny looking grain, but seems like it would make a good meat substitute.

I'll look for some recipes online like that.

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I never really use a 'real' recipe, although I've got tons.

Heres a recipe for you out of one of my Ukrainian cookbooks - this one is specifically for Sviata Vechera:

-2 cups buckwheat (or rice, or even millet) cooked according to directions, then cooled

- 1 head of cabbage (can be fresh or sour cabbage, or even beet leaves/swiss chard)

- 2-3 medium onions

- 1/4 pound butter (or a vegetable oil, amount can be reduced if you want)

- 1 cup mushrooms (can use just about any kind, or many kinds)

- salt and pepper to taste

- 16 ounces canned tomatoes

- tomato juice/stock/water as needed

Cook your grain, then cool. Core your cabbage, put the head in a pot with boiling water, and cook, peeling off each outer layer as they cook (as was demonstrated upthread). Sauté your onions and mushrooms in butter (or oil), then add to your grain, and gently mix. Season with salt and pepper. Stuff the grain/mushroom filling into the cabbage leaves (not too tight), and arrange neatly in your dish. Crush your tomatoes, add some tomato juice as needed, cover everything with a few large leaves of cabbage, then cover your casserole dish, and bake at 325 for 2 hours.

A few variations - I like to add a little hot sauce to my tomatoes, personal taste, but I like a spicier sauce. My grandmother would also cook the cabbage rolls overnight in a 225-250 degree F oven (I do the same, but most recipes call for higher temps/less time). You can serve them strait out of the casserole with the tomato sauce, or you can also serve them with mushroom gravy (which is also traditional).

And just to note - in my family (and most Ukrainian recipes I've seen) cabbage rolls were always about the grain filling, if meat was added it was only a bit to add flavour to the grains. Buckwheat, millet, and rice are all traditional fillings, my personal favourites are buckwheat or millet (rice is a bit boring IMO). Also, once the cabbage rolls are done, the grains are quite soft - softer than the way Italians or French cook them (I've personally never understood their affinity for cooking pasta and rice al dente anyway...).

Edit - forgot to add, Buckwheat is one of the best sources of non-animal protein known to man, and has tons of great vitamins and whatnot - it's a great, incredibly healthy grain.

Edited November 8, 2007 by Mikeb19 (log)

[maurdel]

Heres a recipe for you out of one of my Ukrainian cookbooks - this one is specifically for Sviata Vechera:

-2 cups buckwheat (or rice, or even millet) cooked according to directions, then cooled

- 1 head of cabbage (can be fresh or sour cabbage, or even beet leaves/swiss chard)

- 2-3 medium onions

- 1/4 pound butter (or a vegetable oil, amount can be reduced if you want)

- 1 cup mushrooms (can use just about any kind, or many kinds)

- salt and pepper to taste

- 16 ounces canned tomatoes

- tomato juice/stock/water as needed

Cook your grain, then cool.  Core your cabbage, put the head in a pot with boiling water, and ...

Edit - forgot to add, Buckwheat is one of the best sources of non-animal protein known to man, and has tons of great vitamins and whatnot - it's a great, incredibly healthy grain.

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Thanks. The recipe looks good. I will probably use it tomorrow, though I was thinking of mixing rice and buckwheat.

I wasn't sure how one would use buckwheat (precooked or not). I looked a bit online today and most of the Ukrainian recipes that used it directed us to first toast the groats, and then some also precooked it in liquid and some did not.

My mother's version (which was not Ukrainian), did use lamb and rice and neither was precooked. But I remember the rolls stacked up in a big pot with quite a bit of liquid around, and it cooked on top of the stove for a long time. I may try the buckwheat uncooked (though toasted) and use the cooking method as mom did.

[maurdel]

I finally, finally made them. I must say they came out pretty great. I made a vegetarian version using rice and barley and mushrooms. I wanted to try the buckwheat as MikeB19 suggested, but tasted my buckwheat (which is a whole untoasted grain) and I was not sure what to do with it. Some recipes I looked at that used buckwheat asked for groats, which I believe means it's cracked grain. I had the whole grain. Maybe next time. As tasty as this came out there will be a next time, and it will probably be soon.

A couple of pics: one of the pot pre-cooking, and a plate of rolls.

There are a few rolled in napa leaves because I had a bit of extra stuffing.

I definitely need some rolling lessons. They were tastier than they look:

thanks for all the suggestions

[Pam R]

My chicken rolls that I forgot to post . .

I made them in the slow cooker - excellent. Put them together in the morning, set the timer for 8 hours and they were on 'warm' when I got home.

Similar to the last batch, but chicken instead of beef, napa instead of . . er. . regular green cabbage, and sliced button mushrooms instead of shortribs. As I said in an earlier post, these were lighter than the last batch. Very good.

Sad photos, but tasty rolls.

[Jensen]

These are old photos but it just occurred to me that these are a sort of "cabbage roll":

And inside the cabbage:

To make them, I lined custard cups with lightly-steamed savoy cabbage, then filled with minced chicken breast meat mixed with chopped water chestnuts and seasoned with white pepper and sesame oil. The cups were then steamed until done.

Asian cabbage rolls?

[monavano]

Finally, I'm getting around to adding my stuffed cabbage! I've been making golabki for many years now and feel like I've found my groove. This batch was very good with melt in your mouth cabbage and tender meat. My mom loved it too!

For recipe, see here.

Edited November 20, 2007 by monavano (log)

[MelissaH]

Back when this cook-off was more current, I made a batch of cabbage rolls (stuffed with meat and rice, and cooked in tomato sauce on top of the stove). We ate some, and the leftovers I froze individually on a cookie sheet, then vacuum-sealed in single-serving packets. Since then, the sealed packets have been reposing in the chest freezer. Tonight, we're going to need a quick dinner, so we're going to pull a couple of packets out.

What's going to be the best way to reheat these? (Microwave? Boil in the bag?) I'm unable to plan on a specific dinner time tonight, as it all will depend on how organized my husband's students are in lab this afternoon!

Thanks,

MelissaH

[monavano]

Back when this cook-off was more current, I made a batch of cabbage rolls (stuffed with meat and rice, and cooked in tomato sauce on top of the stove). We ate some, and the leftovers I froze individually on a cookie sheet, then vacuum-sealed in single-serving packets. Since then, the sealed packets have been reposing in the chest freezer. Tonight, we're going to need a quick dinner, so we're going to pull a couple of packets out.

What's going to be the best way to reheat these? (Microwave? Boil in the bag?) I'm unable to plan on a specific dinner time tonight, as it all will depend on how organized my husband's students are in lab this afternoon!

Thanks,

MelissaH

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Are the bags microwave safe or able to be heated to a boil? If not, I'd prepare them like most things i vacuum seal-thaw in cool water and then place in a 350 degree oven to heat through-maybe 25 minutes.

I wish I had some in my freezer. It's time for another batch!!

[MelissaH]

Are the bags microwave safe or able to be heated to a boil? If not, I'd prepare them like most things i vacuum seal-thaw in cool water and then place in a 350 degree oven to heat through-maybe 25 minutes.

I wish I had some in my freezer. It's time for another batch!!

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The bags (standard FoodSaver brand) are both microwave-safe and boilable. I'm looking for quick and easy. Minimal cleanup is a plus tonight!

MelissaH

[monavano]

Are the bags microwave safe or able to be heated to a boil? If not, I'd prepare them like most things i vacuum seal-thaw in cool water and then place in a 350 degree oven to heat through-maybe 25 minutes.

I wish I had some in my freezer. It's time for another batch!!

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The bags (standard FoodSaver brand) are both microwave-safe and boilable. I'm looking for quick and easy. Minimal cleanup is a plus tonight!

MelissaH

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I'd give boiling them a try (I have the same brand, but haven't cooked in them yet). I wonder if you should still thaw them in cool water first....it wouldn't take long. I'm just not sure...anyone?

[markk]

Cabbage takes very badly to being microwaved!

[monavano]

Cabbage takes very badly to being microwaved!

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I'm just curious..do you mean microwaving as a cooking method or reheating? I reheat golabki in the micro and never have any problems with taste etc. (just even heating since my micro is ancient )

[Pam R]

I reheat in the microwave too. Keep it covered it's fine. Thanks for bumping this -- I think it's the perfect weekend project. I really enjoyed the chicken rolls done in the slow cooker and think I'll put another batch on.

[MelissaH]

What I wound up doing:

I pulled the cabbage rolls out of the freezer about ten minutes before I realized that I needed to get dinner moving NOW. So they were pretty rock-solid still, when it was time to start dinner prep.

I took a pot, added hot water from the kitchen faucet, and tossed in the two vacuum-sealed packets of cabbage rolls. I then started heating the pot on the stove. When the water came up to a boil, I turned the heat down to simmer, and left it there a while (10 or so minutes, maybe? I didn't keep careful track).

Things felt nicely thawed, and even hot, but I had no way to quantify how hot the insides were without opening a packet. So I turned the burner off, pulled one packet out, snipped open an end, and stuck my Thermapen probe into one of the cabbage rolls. I was only at about 125 degrees F, so I dumped the entire contents of the packet into a dish, covered it with a plate, and stuck it in the microwave for a minute. After that, the Thermapen kept moving well past 165 degrees, so I knew everything was well dead.

This whole time, I left the other packet in the pot with the hot water. When the microwave became available, I put the other serving in for a minute to finish heating it through.

The result: one delicious dinner of leftover cabbage rolls. I think if I was going to do only one serving, I might be able to go with just the microwave. But for two or more servings, not only did I get them done in a reasonable amount of time, I humidified the kitchen a bit.

MelissaH

[Mistinguett]

I forgot about this thread. I made these for Christmas.

This is the sour cabbage that I get at one of the neighborhood stores. Some friends who don't find sour cabbage freeze the cabbage for a couple of days (thawing takes about the same amount of time) and swear that the texture is just like parboiled.

The cabbage prepped - each leaf cut in half, the rib removed and chopped with any imperfect leaves and the core leaves. If raw cabbage is used, I'd use about 2 packages of well rinsed and drained sauerkraut.

The meat, about 2 lbs, mixed with a sauteed onion and a half of raw onion, about 1/2 cup rice (I usually parboil it but it's not necessary) and seasoned with S&P, thyme, a pinch of paprika, one egg and a couple tablespoons of cold water.

Forming the rolls (please excuse the beat-up chopping board, my two pretty bamboo ones were busy with other stuff).

Step 1, I bring the left side over the meat, roll to the end, then push in the other end like so

In a pot I layer some of the chopped cabbage seasoned with thyme and smoked bacon. The rolls are tightly layered but not crowded. The first and the last row should be chopped cabbage.

Dot some fat on top - be it pork or duck, tomato sauce, and level with boiling water.

It usually takes about 3 hours in a 350F oven, and I get these:

[Shelby]

You've made me hungry for cabbage rolls again!!!

[Pierogi]

OK, I know this is way after the fact, but when I made the gabluki that were inspired by this cook-off, I was still pretty intimidated by ImageGullet and didn't know how to use it. Heck, I *BARELY* knew how to use the camera !!

Sooooooo, now that I'm a self-proclaimed expert at posting pictures, here's my efforts, actually made in probably November or late October last year. Oh my they were good, as I said in another post, Polish soul food, baby.

The wilted leaves, lined up awaiting their destiny of savory filling:

The meat & veg (onions & green bell peppers) getting browned and softened:

The other stuffing ingredients, freshly made bread crumbs included:

A pre-rolling roll:

A nice neat package (no toothpicks required):

In the pan, waiting for the lovely sauce:

Sauced & dotted with BUTTAH baby (the better to withstand those Polish winters...):

Plated with the poppy seed noodles with croutons (after the sour cream has been mixed into the tomato sauce...low calorie/low cholesterol, ummm, not so much, those long winters again, you know...):

And finally, my cherished recipe card, the one Mom used to make them:

[Shelby]

YUM Pierogi! I've never seen that brand of chili sauce--what's it like? I love the picture of your recipe

[Pierogi]

YUM Pierogi!  I've never seen that brand of chili sauce--what's it like?  I love the picture of your recipe 

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Oh yeah, Shelby, they were YUM for sure. I guess that chili sauce must be regional or local, it never occured to me before. Its the one I grew up with. Its thicker and more.......ummmmm.......tangy than the others I've tried. Chunkier. I haven't really used many others, I think I've used maybe Heinz and a store brand. Usually I just get the "Homemade Chili Sauce" ! The others sort of taste like ketchup mixed with pickle relish and some mild peppers to me. This has some zing, not hot but tangy, not as sweet.

[kbjesq]

I finally got around to the cabbage rolls the other night. I used an odd (to me) recipe from CI's family cookbook called "Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce". The recipe inlcuded gingersnaps, crushed and added to the sauce about 1/2 way through the cooking time. The dish is simmered on the cooktop, which was also odd to me as I am more familiar with slow-baked cabbage rolls. Personally, I thought the flavor was a bit flat but the rest of the clan seemed to enjoy them. If I make them again, I will add some freshly grated ginger at the same time as the gingersnaps. And some garlic, too.

Anyhow, here they are, in various stages (excuse the messy rolling technique and uneven sizes - I could only find a rather small head of cabbage and had to make do):