Stuffed Cabbage
Description: Meatballs stuffed in cabbage leaves and cooked in slightly tangy tomato sauce. Delicious any time of the year.
Difficulty: moderate
Prep time: 45m
Cook time: 1h15m
Servings: 25 rolls
Ingredients
- 1 head cabbage (cut around the core) in a pot of boiling water, pulling the leaves off as they soften, cutting as necessary. (See the note about what to do if no one actually likes the cabbage.)
- 2 lb ground meat
- 1 onion (grated)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c ketchup
- 2 cans tomato sauce (12 oz. cans)
- 1/2 tbsp sour salt or citric acid
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar (not the dark brown - light brown that looks more like regular sugar)
Equipment
Instructions
Place the cabbage (1 head)
In a bowl, mix ground meat (2 lb), onion (1), egg (1), ketchup (1/2 c).
Form the meat mixture into balls around the size of a golf ball and place each ball into a cabbage leaf, closing the leaf around the meatball. If there is still meat left after the cabbage is all used up, just make more balls.
Put the stuffed cabbage leaves in a pot (medium sized) with any unstuffed meatballs on top.
Add tomato sauce (2 cans), sour salt or citric acid (1/2 tbsp), honey (2 tbsp), brown sugar (2 tbsp).
Partially cover the pot and bring to a boil.
Simmer on a low heat for 1 h and taste the sauce. Add brown sugar if too sour or sour salt if too sweet. If you need to adjust the flavor let it simmer for an additional 5 m before tasting again.
Notes:
If you don't like the cabbage, that's OK. It's not hard to take the meatballs out of the leaves when you eat it. That's what I always do.
If no one really likes the cabbage don't leave it out or it will entirely change the flavor. Shred the cabbage and put it on the base of the pot.
I explicitly don't call for a specific brown sugar. In the recipe my mother gave me it says "brownulated".
This dish is wonderful as either an appetizer on its own (1 or 2 rolls/balls) or as a main course with a side of rice for the delicious sauce.
Recipe author: Judy Shernicoff