TanyaCabbage, being popular in Northern European countries, Russia, Poland and Ukraine, has been unfairly overlooked in North America. Kale stole the scene.
Do you know that the Russians eat seven times as much cabbage as the North Americans? And there are many good reasons for that. It’s available, inexpensive, easily fermented and packed with nutrients.
Chemicals in cabbage may protect against the negative effects of radiation. Cabbage was in great demand after Chernobyl disaster. Who knows? Maybe cabbage soup saved some lives.
Cabbage rolls or golubtsy are essentially ground meat and grains wrapped in cabbage leaves. The idea of wrapping ground meat in cabbage leaves probably comes from Mediterranean cooking tradition of wrapping stuff into grape leaves – Dolma. In colder climate, cabbage leaves serve that purpose.
There are many possible origins of the name “golubtsy”. One tale goes that the name derived from “golub” which means “pigeon” in Russian. They say, the French cooks brought to Russia the culinary tradition of cooking pigeons wrapped in cabbage leaves, which eventually was replaced by stuffing cabbage leaves with ground meat and grains.
Whatever the origin is, I’ve been eating golubtsy as long as I remember myself. It is a comfort food that has a special sentimental value for me. It was cooked by my grandmother and later by my mother. The smell of stewed cabbage is the smell of my childhood.
Cabbage rolls or golubtsy
Let start with the stuffing. Grind 1 lb of pork and 1/2 lb of beef, 1 head of sweet onion, 2 gloves of garlic and 1/4 cup of parsley. Then add 1 cup of uncooked rice, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper. Mix well and put aside.
Preparing the cabbage wraps. Cut the cabbage bottom off. Place the whole cabbage head into a saucepan with boiling water and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cabbage from the saucepan and separate the soft leaves, which you will use for wrapping.
Return the rest of the cabbage head to the same saucepan and boil for another 5 minutes. Repeat the process until you have enough leaves for wrapping. Be careful while removing the cabbage head from the boiling water. (I use two big wooden spoons).
Wrap a full tablespoon of stuffing into each cabbage leaf, fold the sides and roll. Place the stuffed leaves next to one another onto a baking sheet previously greased with oil. Pour one cup of beef or chicken stock on top of the rolls and bake for 30 min at 400 F. Check from time to time and sprinkle some more broth on top of the rolls if needed.
For sauce: Fry dry your favorite spices for aroma, add olive oil and sauté coarsely chopped onion, tomatoes, celery, garlic, parsley, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of brown sugar. Add 2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth, a teaspoon of sour cream or fraiche, and 1 cup of tomato sauce. Bring all to a boil and simmer for 10-15 min.
Pour sauce on top of the rolls, cover with aluminum foil and and bake for an hour at 350 degrees. Serve with more sour cream and warm flatbread.
Cold beer is good company.
Most likely you will have some unused cabbage after you finish with golubtsy. Use it for cabbage soup. Also use the water in which you boiled cabbage for golubtsy as a stock for cabbage soup, or as they call it “shchi“. That is another story.
P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.
