2 Videos | Photo: Stuffed Cabbage Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons good olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
- 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes and their juice
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large head Savoy or green cabbage, including outer leaves
For the filling:
- 2 1/2 pounds ground chuck
- 3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onions
- 1/2 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, and cook over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, brown sugar, raisins, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Remove the entire core of the cabbage with a paring knife. Immerse the head of cabbage in the boiling water for a few minutes, peeling off each leaf with tongs as soon as it s flexible. Set the leaves aside. Depending on the size of each leaf, you will need at least 14 leaves.
For the filling, in a large bowl, combine the ground chuck, eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, rice, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add 1 cup of the sauce to the meat mixture and mix lightly with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
To assemble, place 1 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Remove the hard triangular rib from the base of each cabbage leaf with a small paring knife. Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup of filling in an oval shape near the rib edge of each leaf and roll up toward the outer edge, tucking the sides in as you roll. Place half the cabbage rolls, seam sides down, over the sauce. Add more sauce and more cabbage rolls alternately until you ve placed all the cabbage rolls in the pot. Pour the remaining sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cover the dish tightly with the lid and bake for 1 hour or until the meat is cooked and the rice is tender. Serve hot.
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By swing9cats
Seattle, WA
on February 06, 2012
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I used this recipe as a base for "Sarma" a yugoslavian dish I wanted to make for my husband. I used pickled cabbage (you can pick it up at any eastern european store, and I also used home made pickled cabbage (you can find a recipe on e-how. Both ways taste good, although I liked the home made pickling flavor better. This also ensures the cabbage is tender. I used boil in a bag rice, and made two packs and boiled for 8 minutes before adding to the meat mixture to ensure the rice wasn't too hard. This turned out pretty good! Overall the dish was really flavorful. To get closer to Sarma, instead of adding the sauce to the dutch oven over the rolls, use water. But the way Ina does it is far more flavorful.
By ttrichard_11713569
McKinney, TX
on February 05, 2012
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It is a little sweet for my taste. Next time I will cut half the sugar and taste before adding it all at once. This is an fabulous recipe and my family will have this dish many times in the future.
By peacechild48
on January 29, 2012
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I haven't had stuffed cabbage since I was a little girl and always thought I didn't like it. I thought I would try this recipe, since my husband did like it. I didn't want to use my mom's recipe, so I thought I would try Ina's. It was wonderful. I used the savoy cabbage and it was delicious. I did forget to put some of the sauce in the meat, but when we cut it we spooned sauce over the stuffed cabbages so it was flavored with the sauce. Next time I won't forget. Wrapping the leaves wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I did carefully remove the leaves, then put them in the boiling water and cooked them a bit longer than the recipe said. I then drained them and ran them under cold water to cool them a bit. No sense in burning your fingers. Thanks Ina for a great recipe.
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