Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
The idea is pretty basic: make some meat filling, extended with a plentiful starch such as cooked (leftover) rice, and roll it up in cabbage leaves. Typically, I find cabbage roll recipes to be a bit bland, so I have tried to add some flavor in a couple of places. As is always the case with cooking, take this starting point as a suggestion and modify the tomato sauce to your liking.
The cabbage rolls, once they are formed, need to cook well, in order to ensure that all the raw ground pork and the rice next to it get heated up to a high enough temperature for long enough to be safe to eat. For that reason, we sauce minimally, and bake the rolls for 90 min or so.
Rolled cabbage rolls might be frozen, uncooked, in a dish which can go from freezer to oven (though not directly – allow a frozen pan of raw food to thaw fully before baking). Baked rolls might also be frozen in a similar format, ready to reheat and serve.
Makes enough for 6 people, roughly 18 rolls.
Equipment:
• large mixing bowl
• large mixing bowl w/ ice for shocking blanched cabbage leaves
• large dutch oven or small stock pot, for blanching cabbage leaves
• colander and bowl or tray, for draining blanched cabbage leaves
• casserole dish for baking rolls
• small-medium saucepan for tomato sauce
• immersion (or other) blender
Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb cooked rice preferably cold, leftover; otherwise spread to cool
2 ea napa cabbage or one really large one
1 ea shallot }caramelized together 1/2 ea onion
4 inches leek
2-3 cloves garlic raw
1/8 tsp dill seed ground
1/4 tsp black pepper ground
Tomato sauce:
1 can tomatoes
1 ea shallot
1/2 ea onion
1 rib celery
1/4 cup carrot
2-3 cloves garlic roasted
2-3 leaves bay
Procedure:
1. Put on a pot of water for blanching the cabbage leaves, about 2/3 full of water. Bring it to a boil.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
3. Start with the sauce: wrap the sauce garlic in foil and place it into the oven to roast.
4. Chop all the sauce veg. Try to get the carrot small.
5. Put the small saucepan over low heat with a small amount of oil.
6. Sweat all the sauce veg with the bay leaves in the oil over low heat with the lid on.
7. Meanwhile, caramelize the other half of the onion with the leek and a second shallot, for the filling.
8. Once the sauce veg has sweated, add the can of tomatoes, and allow the sauce to simmer slowly while the garlic roasts.
9. Grind the black pepper and dill seed and add them to the mixing bowl for the filling. You can add a dried hot pepper for some kick.
10.Once the caramelization is done, add those caramelized bulby vegetables to the bowl also, and spread out to cool.
11.Add the rice, and mix to bring down the temperature further.
12.Add the ground pork to the rice, caramelized bulbs and spices, and mix well.
13.Chill the mixture while getting the cabbage leaves ready.
14.Once the blanching water is boiling, the cabbage leaves may be blanched. Depending on the size of the pot and volume of water, it may be possible to do more (or necessary to do fewer) at a time.
15.Allow a few leaves of cabbage to blanch for about a minute, just until the water starts to bubble again.
16.Pull the blanched leaves (they should be flexible, but not mushy) from the hot water and plunge them into ice water, in the second mixing bowl.
17.Repeat in batches until all the large leaves from the cabbage(s) are blanched. This recipe should make 18-20 rolls, so about that many leaves will be required.
18.Once all the leaves are blanched and shocked (in cold water), remove them one by one from the ice water, allowing them to drip as much as possible, laying them out in the colander to drain.
19.Upon taking a cabbage leaf, attempt to remove excess water by carefully squeezing.
20.Spread a blanched cabbage leaf on the cutting board, with the stem toward you and the leaf face up.
21.Put about 2 Tbsp of filling onto the stem edge, and then roll it away, tucking the edges of the leaf over after one revolution, and continuing to roll.
22.Place the finished roll into the pan, and repeat until all the rolls and made, placing them into the pan next to each other. They should be cozily nestled together, not crammed in.
23.Using a broad spoon, baste the rolls with a bit of tomato liquor from the cooking tomato sauce, and then place the pan of rolls into the oven.
24.Bake the rolls in the center of the oven for 90 – 120 minutes. Check them every so often to make sure they’re okay, and if they look dry, baste with a little more tomato sauce/juice.
25.They ought to brown on top a bit when done, and perhaps puff a little.
26.To finish the sauce, add the roasted garlic (and optionally some tomato paste), and puree it in its pot with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning with vermouth and/or lemon juice.
27.Serve the cabbage rolls 3 to a person with the pureed tomato sauce. These are excellent with many different potato side dishes, such as dauphinoise or duchess.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
The idea is pretty basic: make some meat filling, extended with a plentiful starch such as cooked (leftover) rice, and roll it up in cabbage leaves. Typically, I find cabbage roll recipes to be a bit bland, so I have tried to add some flavor in a couple of places. As is always the case with cooking, take this starting point as a suggestion and modify the tomato sauce to your liking.
The cabbage rolls, once they are formed, need to cook well, in order to ensure that all the raw ground pork and the rice next to it get heated up to a high enough temperature for long enough to be safe to eat. For that reason, we sauce minimally, and bake the rolls for 90 min or so.
Rolled cabbage rolls might be frozen, uncooked, in a dish which can go from freezer to oven (though not directly – allow a frozen pan of raw food to thaw fully before baking). Baked rolls might also be frozen in a similar format, ready to reheat and serve.
Makes enough for 6 people, roughly 18 rolls.
Equipment:
• large mixing bowl
• large mixing bowl w/ ice for shocking blanched cabbage leaves
• large dutch oven or small stock pot, for blanching cabbage leaves
• colander and bowl or tray, for draining blanched cabbage leaves
• casserole dish for baking rolls
• small-medium saucepan for tomato sauce
• immersion (or other) blender
Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb cooked rice preferably cold, leftover; otherwise spread to cool
2 ea napa cabbage or one really large one
1 ea shallot }caramelized together 1/2 ea onion
4 inches leek
2-3 cloves garlic raw
1/8 tsp dill seed ground
1/4 tsp black pepper ground
Tomato sauce:
1 can tomatoes
1 ea shallot
1/2 ea onion
1 rib celery
1/4 cup carrot
2-3 cloves garlic roasted
2-3 leaves bay
Procedure:
1. Put on a pot of water for blanching the cabbage leaves, about 2/3 full of water. Bring it to a boil.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
3. Start with the sauce: wrap the sauce garlic in foil and place it into the oven to roast.
4. Chop all the sauce veg. Try to get the carrot small.
5. Put the small saucepan over low heat with a small amount of oil.
6. Sweat all the sauce veg with the bay leaves in the oil over low heat with the lid on.
7. Meanwhile, caramelize the other half of the onion with the leek and a second shallot, for the filling.
8. Once the sauce veg has sweated, add the can of tomatoes, and allow the sauce to simmer slowly while the garlic roasts.
9. Grind the black pepper and dill seed and add them to the mixing bowl for the filling. You can add a dried hot pepper for some kick.
10.Once the caramelization is done, add those caramelized bulby vegetables to the bowl also, and spread out to cool.
11.Add the rice, and mix to bring down the temperature further.
12.Add the ground pork to the rice, caramelized bulbs and spices, and mix well.
13.Chill the mixture while getting the cabbage leaves ready.
14.Once the blanching water is boiling, the cabbage leaves may be blanched. Depending on the size of the pot and volume of water, it may be possible to do more (or necessary to do fewer) at a time.
15.Allow a few leaves of cabbage to blanch for about a minute, just until the water starts to bubble again.
16.Pull the blanched leaves (they should be flexible, but not mushy) from the hot water and plunge them into ice water, in the second mixing bowl.
17.Repeat in batches until all the large leaves from the cabbage(s) are blanched. This recipe should make 18-20 rolls, so about that many leaves will be required.
18.Once all the leaves are blanched and shocked (in cold water), remove them one by one from the ice water, allowing them to drip as much as possible, laying them out in the colander to drain.
19.Upon taking a cabbage leaf, attempt to remove excess water by carefully squeezing.
20.Spread a blanched cabbage leaf on the cutting board, with the stem toward you and the leaf face up.
21.Put about 2 Tbsp of filling onto the stem edge, and then roll it away, tucking the edges of the leaf over after one revolution, and continuing to roll.
22.Place the finished roll into the pan, and repeat until all the rolls and made, placing them into the pan next to each other. They should be cozily nestled together, not crammed in.
23.Using a broad spoon, baste the rolls with a bit of tomato liquor from the cooking tomato sauce, and then place the pan of rolls into the oven.
24.Bake the rolls in the center of the oven for 90 – 120 minutes. Check them every so often to make sure they’re okay, and if they look dry, baste with a little more tomato sauce/juice.
25.They ought to brown on top a bit when done, and perhaps puff a little.
26.To finish the sauce, add the roasted garlic (and optionally some tomato paste), and puree it in its pot with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning with vermouth and/or lemon juice.
27.Serve the cabbage rolls 3 to a person with the pureed tomato sauce. These are excellent with many different potato side dishes, such as dauphinoise or duchess.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
