Cabbage Rolls

This typical European and Western Asian dish is absolutely delicious when prepared properly.  Typically filled with onions, rice and meat, it can be a simple and delectable meal best for large groups.

This particular recipe used hamburger for the meat and a tomato sauce that turned out almost tangy.

The Good: The recipe is easy to make for large groups.

The Bad: Parts of the recipe can be fairly ambiguous, especially for those new to cooking with cabbage.

The Ugly: This recipe does not save well.  The cabbage tends to get stringy when reheated.

Suggestions before starting:

When picking the type of cabbage, pick a type that has large rounded leaves.  We tried one that was long and skinny which caused us to have all shapes and sizes of rolls.

If you choose to use the longer leaves, put your smaller rolls in the middle so everything will cook evenly.

Do not be concerned about making a certain amount of rolls.  Just roll until you use all of the meat.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 heads of cabbage leaves
  Filling:
• 1 pound ground beef
• 3/4 cup cooked rice
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup milk
  Sauce:
• 1 cans (8 ounces ) tomato sauce
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, un-drained
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup cold water

Preparation:

Drop cabbage leaves into boiling salted water; cover and cook for 3 minutes. Drain well. For filling, combine ground beef, rice, onion, egg, and salt, pepper, and milk. Mix well and divide into 12 portions. Place a portion into the center of each cabbage leaf. Roll leaf around filling; fasten with toothpick. Place in a baking dish. For sauce, combine tomato sauce, tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, and 1/2 cup of water and pour over cabbage rolls. Bake covered in a preheated 350° oven 40 to 45 minutes. Remove rolls and discard toothpicks. Place pan with juices over medium heat or transfer the juices to a saucepan and place over heat; stir cornstarch and water mixture into the sauce; bring to a boil and cook until thickened.
Recipe for cabbage rolls serves 6.