Stuffed Cabbage

INGREDIENTS:

Meat Filling:

3 lbs. Ground Pork Butt or Shoulder

1 large Onions diced fine (about 3-4 cups, depending on onion size, either amt. sufficient)

5 cloves Garlic crushed or minced

1/3 cup Grapeseed Oil

1 Bunch Italian Parsley (minced, remove most of stems)

1 ½ cups Converted Rice (3/4 cups uncooked with 1 ½ cups water, half cooked)
2 large Eggs

1 ½ Tbsp. Hungarian Paprika (find good source, ex. Pensies)

1 ½ Tbsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Black Pepper

Cabbage:

2 large Heads Cabbage cored (core needs to be fully removed giving boiling water access to space between leaves while separating cabbage leaves from head) *video

large pot boiling water

2 Tbsp. Vinegar

Sauerkraut:

64 ounces Sauerkraut (find good source in Deli dept.)

1 large Onions (about 3- 4 cups diced fine)

1 lb. Bacon ground

1 Tbsp. Hungarian Paprika

2 tsp. Salt

2 cups water

Additional:

5 cups Water (approx.)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Meat Filling Prep:

1.)   Grind Pork and set aside

2.)  Rinse rice and half cook in 2 ½ cups water (about ten minutes, set aside to cool)

3.)  Dice onions, mince garlic, mince Italian parsley

4.)  Sauté onions and garlic in grapeseed oil till translucent, add minced parsley and sauté additional 30 seconds, then cool.

5.)  Add cooled half cooked rice, cooled onion, garlic parsley, ground meat and eggs into a large mixing bowl.

6.)  Season with salt, pepper, paprika and mix well to incorporate all ingredients evenly.

7.)  Set aside.

Sauerkraut Prep:

1.)   Rinse sauerkraut well and squeeze out excess water (otherwise it will be too sour)

2.)  Sauté bacon, remove bacon and set aside. Reserve bacon fat.

3.)  Sauté finely diced onions in bacon fat till translucent,

4.)  Add Hungarian Paprika and sauté for approximately 1 minute being careful not to burn paprika.

5.)  Add sauerkraut and sauté for a couple more minutes while stirring with wooden spoon to incorporate ingredients.

6.)  Add bacon and salt, stir, add 2 cups water, stir and set aside.

Cabbage Leaves Prep:

1.)   Bring large pot of water with vinegar to boil. (you need enough water for a cored head of cabbage to be fully immersed)

2.)  Core cabbage so that all of the core is removed allowing hot water to seep in between cabbage leaf layers.

3.)  Using two forks, gently remove cabbage leaves into a cookie sheet being careful not to tear leaves.

4.)  Leaves need to just get soft enough to work loose from head. Don’t cook the cabbage leaves, just barely soften them so that can wrap around the meat mixture.

5.)  Cool and carefully cut approx. ¾ of the thickness of the hard spine of cabbage leaves. See picture

Filling and rolling cabbage rolls:

I measure meat/rice mixture with a measuring cup to keep rolls somewhat even sized but eyeballing by how big your cabbage leaves are is another option.

The smallest leaves and center of the cabbage are kept for last and usually get cut into very thin strips to be added to sauerkraut.

I start off by using all the largest leaves first, sometimes, they are so big that they need to be cut in half.

I roll all of the cabbage rolls and set aside before layering them into roaster to be roasted/baked in oven or layered and cooked on the stove.

My first preference is to layer it in roaster and roast/bake in the oven.

Cser Mama usually cooks it on the stove, Marton Mama usually bakes it in the oven.

See pictures for cabbage rolling illustration.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:  

I don’t have exact measurements here so just estimate. There will need to be sauerkraut layered beneath the cabbage rolls, in between each layer and also covering the top.

The size of roaster or pot will be determined by the amount of cabbage rolls you have.

My meatballs were around a ¼ cup and yielded 27 cabbage rolls.

I used a 16-quart stock pot so I only got two layers of cabbage roll and three layers of sauerkraut.

The additional water is used to pour over everything just before putting roaster into oven, or stock pot onto stovetop so that the water level is just below the top layer of kraut.

I like to use a bigger pot than necessary for cooking it on the stovetop so it doesn’t splatter out and make a huge mess. Even the roaster. Leave enough room for cabbage rolls to swell and content to sputter without splattering out from under the lid.

Cooks for approximately an hour, covered and then let sit in steam without uncovering for approximately another 30 minutes.

Total cook time including 30 minutes in steam is 1 ½ hours.