I have only recently perfected my stuffed cabbage recipe…I tell ya, cabbage is really hard to work with. For a newbie especially. Having the perfect consistency of the leaves is crucial: you need to be able to tear the leaves off the cabbage and wrap your meat in it. Finally, I found a solution: savoy cabbage. The leaves are loose enough to come apart and soft enough to wrap. Of course, boiling is still required for the added softness. This dish requires butter, or meat with higher content of fat, because otherwise you have boiled ground beef with boiled cabbage. Not good. Adding “fat”, will ensure the flavors are great. This dish is best served with yogurt or sour cream. And bread, lotsa bread for dipping.
Golubci
- 1 medium head of cabbage (savoy works best for me)
- 1.5 lbs. ground beef
- 1 large onion
- 1/4 cup of rice
- Dried Oregano
- Dried Mint
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 2-3 tbsp tomato paste and 1 cup of hot water
- Onion: Finely chop or process in the food processor
- Add the onion, salt, pepper, oregano, mint and rice to the beef and mix well.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Separate the leaves from the cabbage, gently and carefully and place 4 or 5 at a time into the boiling water, carefully.
- Let the cabbage boil for 5 minutes, then remove the leaves and drain.
- Let the cabbage leaves cool
- Scoop 1-2 tablespoons of meat mixture into each cabbage leaf and wrap like an envelope.
- place the mixture in the middle, then wrap the sides, then the ends and place seam down into a deep pot.
- Repeat until you are out of either cabbage leaves or meat
- Place the tomato paste into a bowl and pour hot water over it and mix until tomato paste has dissolved
- Pour the tomato mixture over the cabbage rolls, cover and bring to boil
- Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for about 30 mins.
- Enjoy with a dab of sour cream or Greek yogurt
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