Stuffed Cabbage

While stuffed cabbage rolls are common to the cuisines of the Balkans, Central, Northern, Eastern Europe, Iran, West Asia and Northern China, when I think of this comfy dish, I think of Eastern Europe.

Galumpkis, as stuffed cabbage is known in Eastern Europe, are typically meat-filled steam cabbage leaves bakes in tomato sauce. As is common, I add cooked white rice to my meat mixture, which consists of pork, veal and beef. The rolls steam under a foil-wrapped baking dish and then I remove the foil to let the tops crisp up a bit.

Note that you’ll have leftovers of the meat mixture. I roll the meat up in meatballs and cook in tomato sauce for 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp. each dried basil, garlic powder and onion powder
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

For the cabbage rolls:

• 12 cabbage leaves, boiled in salted water for 5 minutes
• 2 pounds of ground meats – pork, veal, beef (known as meatloaf mix)
• 1 cup cooked white rice ( I use boil-in bags)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tsp. each salt and black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried basil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together tomato sauce, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. Add ½ cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 oven-proof pan. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, combine the meats, rice, egg, milk, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and basil. Place about 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture in center of each cabbage leaf and roll up (like a burrito). Place the rolls, seam side down in the prepared pan. Cover the cabbage rolls with the rest of the tomato sauce, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 60 minutes. Remove the foil and cook an additional 15 minutes, until the tops of the rolls are a little crisp.

Makes 12 cabbage rolls, 4-6 healthy servings.