Authentic Slovak Halupki Recipes

SLOVAK STUFFED CABBAGE (HOLUBKY OR HALUPKI)

Steps:

• Remove large outer leaves from cabbage and set aside. Remove core from cabbage. Place head in a large pot filled with boiling salted water . Cover and cook three minutes or until softened enough to pull off individual leaves. You will need 18 leaves.
• When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through.
• Chop the remaining cabbage, still reserving large outer leaves, and place it in the bottom of a large greased casserole dish or Dutch oven.
• Rinse rice and cook it in 1/2 cup water until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool. Meanwhile, sauté chopped onion in butter in a medium skillet until tender and let cool.
• In a large bowl, mix cooked and cooled rice, cooled onions, beef, pork, salt and pepper to taste, egg, garlic, paprika, reserved sauerkraut juices, and 1/3 cup of the tomato sauce; blend ingredients thoroughly. Don't overmix or the meat will become tough.
• Place about 1/2 cup of meat on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the meat. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an envelope. Roll the leaf into a small tube.
• Add some tomato sauce in between the layers in the casserole dish or Dutch oven. Place the cabbage rolls on top of the chopped cabbage with sauerkraut and top with all the crushed tomatoes, remaining sauerkraut, tomato sauce, and a few of the reserved whole cabbage leaves.
• Add enough water to cover completely. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer three to four hours. Watch carefully so stuffed cabbages don't burn.
• Serve with pan juices and a drizzle of sour cream if desired, mashed potatoes , and crusty bread.
• Cabbage rolls freeze well before or after cooking and can be made in a slow cooker (see your manufacturer's instructions).

HALUPKI (SLOVAK STUFFED CABBAGE)

Steps:

• 1. Remove large outer leaves from cabbage and set aside. Remove core from cabbage. Place whole head in a large pot filled with boiling, salted water. Cover and cook 3 minutes, or until softened enough to pull off individual leaves. You will need about 16 -18 leaves. When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through. Chop the remaining cabbage, still reserving large outer leaves, and place it in the bottom of a large greased casserole dish or Dutch oven. Rinse rice and cook it in 1/2-cup water until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool. Meanwile, saute chopped onion in butter in a medium skillet until tender, and let cool. In a large bowl, mix cooled rice, cooled onions, beef, pork, salt and pepper to taste, egg, garlic, paprika, reserved sauerkraut juices and 1/3 cup of the tomato sauce, and blend thoroughly. Don't overmix or the meat will become tough. Place about 1/2 cup of meat on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the meat. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an envelope. Once again, roll away from you to create a neat little roll. Place the cabbage rolls on top of the chopped cabbage with sauerkraut and some tomato sauce in between the layers in the casserole dish or Dutch oven. Top with all the crushed tomatoes, remaining sauerkraut and tomato sauce, and a few of the reserved whole cabbage leaves. Add enough water to cover completely. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer 3 to 4 hours. Watch carefully so stuffed cabbages don't burn. Serve with pan juices and a drizzle of sour cream, if desired, and mashed potatoes and crusty bread. Cabbage rolls freeze well before or after cooking, and can be made in a slow cooker (see your manufacturer's instructions).

TRADITIONAL SLOVAK HALUSKI

Steps:

• Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on paper towels. When bacon is cool, crumble and set aside.
• Place potatoes into a food processor and process until pureed, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and stir in flour, eggs, baking powder, and salt to make a sticky dough. Set dough aside.
• Fill a large pot about half full of lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Ladle large spoonfuls of the sticky dough to a small cutting board and use a knife to chop the dough into tablespoon-size pieces; as you cut off a piece, drop it into the boiling water. Let the dumplings boil over medium heat until they float, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon to a large serving bowl.
• Sprinkle bacon crumbles and a handful of shredded brick cheese over each batch of dumplings; continue to make, boil, and transfer dumplings to the bowl, sprinkling each batch with bacon and brick cheese. When all dumplings are made, gently stir the haluski to mix all ingredients.

HALUPKIS: STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Remove the center core of each head of cabbage. Place in large pot of boiling water. Boil until soft, removing each leaf as it softens. Let leaves cool, then trim the thick rib on each leaf. Reserve 14.5 ounces of the cabbage cooking water.
• Boil rice in a separate saucepot until half cooked. Drain and set aside.
• In a large skillet, saute bacon and discard excess fat. Add the onion to the skillet and cook until lightly browned. Chop the bacon into small pieces and add back to the pan.
• In a bowl combine beef, pork, partially cooked rice, pepper, salt, eggs, cooked onion-bacon mixture, paprika, and celery salt. Measure the mixture with medium sized ice-cream scoop to make each halupki the same size.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• On each separate cabbage leaf, place 1 scoop of the meat mixture at the bottom of the leaf and roll, tightly tucking the sides to cover the mixture. Line the bottom of a roasting pan (not aluminum) with cabbage leaves that are too dark or to small to use for rolling. Place halupkis in roasting pan, making 2 layers.
• Combine tomato soup, broth, chopped tomatoes, and reserved cooking liquid and pour over halupki. Cover and bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Add more liquid, if needed.
• They taste best the next day.

SLOVAK STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a pot of water to a boil.
• Mix beef and pork together. Stir in onion, cooked rice, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic salt and 1/2 can of tomato soup. Mix well.
• Core head of cabbage, place in boiling water and boil until partly cooked. Separate leaves and trim stems. Reserve about 24 to 32 whole leaves. Cut remaining leaves and line the bottom of large roasting pan.
• Lightly pack a small handful of the meat mixture and place in the center of a cabbage leaf. Fold top part of leaf over mixture, then fold in the sides and roll until mixture is completely encased. Lay rolls on top of torn cabbage leaves in pan. Place sauerkraut evenly over rolls. Lay bacon on top of sauerkraut. Sprinkle with 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar. Mix chopped tomatoes and soup with water and pour over rolls. Add additional water to reach top of cabbage rolls.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 1/2 hours or until cooked through.

AUTHENTIC HALUPKI (CABBAGE ROLLS)

Steps:

• 1. After cabbage cooks, allow it to cool a bit so you can handle. You will be tearing off the leaves to use as the base for this dish. I tear all my leaves off before mixing my meats to get a little assembly line ready.
• 2. Mix ground beef & pork together. (I was taught to use my hands, NEVER a spoon.) Salt & pepper the meat generously and mix. Add about 2 TBS of paprika & garlic powder & mix.
• 3. Now add the eggs & mix well. Add the juice from the sauerkraut, about 1/3 cup of tomato sauce, onions (I saute my onions in about 2 tsps of shortening until they are nice & brown), and rice. Mix and mix and mix well.
• 4. Pour the rest of the tomato sauce in the bottom of your crockpot (you will need one very large one or 2 smaller).
• 5. Form oval type meatballs for each cabbage leaf. Place the meat in the cabbage leaf, and then gently roll up & tuck underneath, as needed. If it is your first time making them, you may want to use toothpicks to hold each roll together until you get the hang of working w/ the cabbage.
• 6. Begin layering the cabbage rolls on top of the sauce, then some kraut, then some crushed tomatoes. Continue layering. I add ground black pepper in between. I also tuck in any of the cabbage leaves that have torn or are not good for rolling in between the layers.
• 7. Top with crushed tomatoes & cook in crockpot for about 10 hours. And, enjoy! I always serve with mashed potatoes. YUMMMY!!!!

HALUPKI (CABBAGE ROLLS)

Steps:

• 1. CABBAGE: In a large soup/stock pot add enough, lightly salted, water to submerge a head of cabbage. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Core each whole head of cabbage.
• 2. CABBAGE: Parboil cabbage until slightly tender.
• 3. CABBAGE: Remove the outer leaves as they become tender - do not overcook. Drain well and let cool.
• 4. ONIONS, PEPPERS & GARLIC: Dice onions and green peppers. Peel cloves of garlic and mince.
• 5. ONIONS, PEPPERS & GARLIC: Heat oil in pan, stir in onions, peppers, and seasoning; cook until just tender. Remove from heat; set aside to cool. *Vegetables should be tender but still be able to retain their shape and texture through mixing and baking.
• 6. MEAT MIXTURE: Season the meat and mix well with your hands, squeezing meat through your fingers to mix thoroughly. Add cooled onion/pepper mixture, minced garlic, and rice.
• 7. MEAT MIXTURE: Again with your hands, mix in cooled onion/pepper mixture, minced garlic, and 2 cups of the rice. Mix until well incorporated. Add more rice and additional seasoning if needed. *At this point I like to take a pinch of meat and fry in a small pan to test the seasoning before assembling the cabbage rolls.
• 8. CABBAGE ROLLS: Take about 1/3 of a cup of meat and roll into about a 3" oblong tube of meat. Place meat at cored end of one leaf of cabbage.
• 9. CABBAGE ROLLS: Tightly roll meat in cabbage (away from you) until you no longer see the meat and the cored end of cabbage meets middle of cabbage leaf.
• 10. CABBAGE ROLLS: Take excess cabbage from both sides of meat and neatly and tightly fold in towards each other, allowing the cabbage above the meat to neatly fold in evenly. *See picture*
• 11. CABBAGE ROLLS: Continue to roll meat tightly until the cabbage is completely and neatly wrapped. At this point you can gently push the cabbage into the meat on each end of the meat - this helps secure the cabbage in place while cooking. Don't use the smaller leaves, set aside for later. Continue rolling until all of the meat is used. You should have cabbage leftover.
• 12. CABBAGE ROLLS TIP: If the thick vein of the cabbage makes it too tough to roll you can simply trim the vein. Be careful not to trim too much of the cabbage. You can see where the vein was trimmed in steps 9 - 11.
• 13. FREEZING: At this point you can freeze your cabbage rolls by placing them spaced evenly without touching on a baking sheet and place into the freezer until completely frozen. Then place the individually frozen cabbage rolls in a freezer safe plastic bag and back into the freezer until ready to use.
• 14. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: Layer enough leaves in a single layers at the bottom of your roaster.
• 15. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: (optional) Next spread a layer of sauerkraut
• 16. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: Add a layer of cabbage rolls. At this point, if you plan to double layer your cabbage rolls repeat with a layer of cabbage, sauerkraut, and some tomatoes/sauce before adding the second layer of rolls.
• 17. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: Top cabbage rolls with remaining cabbage and sauerkraut. Pour tomatoes/soup/sauce evenly over cabbage rolls.
• 18. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is fully cooked and a cabbage roll can easily be cut through with the side of a fork. *This cooking time is based on cooking 20 - 25 thawed cabbage rolls in a single layer.

SLOVAK HALUSKI

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 5 minutes. Drain.
• Melt butter in a skillet over low heat; cook and stir onion until onion is softened and butter is golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Add cabbage and toss to coat. Place a lid on the skillet; cook cabbage mixture, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is tender, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove lid and continue to cook until cabbage begins to brown, 5 to 10 more minutes.
• Mix noodles and cabbage together in a serving bowl; season with salt and pepper.

TRADITIONAL SLOVAK HALUSKI

Steps:

• For potato dumplings (Haluski):
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, eggs, potato puree, baking powder, and salt together throughly - mixing it into a sticky dough. Set aside.
• Take a large pot, fill it a little over half full with water and add a dash of salt to the water. Boil water on high heat.
• On medium heat in a skillet, fry up the bacon till crisp and then remove bacon from the pan and allow it to drain on paper towels. Cool bacon and then crumble it. Set aside.
• In the meantime, on a small cutting board ladle sized amount of Haluski dough(at a time) and with a knife, cut about 1 teaspoon sized pieces while holding the board over the boiling water and drop the dough into the water. You might want to do this in batches.
• Let each small batch boil till dumplings are throughly cooked and floating to the top of the boiling water. (They sink when first dropped in). Repeat with another batch of dough until you've used it all.
• Strain dumplings out of the water and add them to a large serving bowl. Sprinkle bacon crumbles, handful of brick cheese (or feta)at a time for each layer. Add next layer of dumplings and repeat the layering process as you finish cooking additional batches of dumplings.(approximately four times of layering).
• When complete, take a large spoon and throughly mix Haluski with all of the other layers to incorporate all the ingredients thoroughly.
• Serve as is or add Kielbasa on the side or slice up Kielbasa and mix it in with Haluski!
• Optional toppings: Sauerkraut.
• Serve with a warm crusty bread!

HALUPKI (STUFFED CABBAGE)

Steps:

• Place the cabbage in a stockpot with enough water to cover.
• Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the water and cabbage.
• Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn cabbage every 2-3 minutes and remove leaves that separate from cabbage and place in a strainer to cool. Boil until all the leaves have cooked, about 15 minutes.
• Reserve 12 oz. of cabbage water.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Trim thick center vein off of bottom of each cabbage leaf.
• In a large bowl thoroughly mix together, ground beef, ground pork, rice, chopped onion, fresh parsley, egg, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
• Lightly pack a small amount of meat mixture and place in the center of the cabbage leaf.
• Fold sides over the filling and start at the stem and roll the cabbage up until the meat is encased. Repeat with remaining leaves and filling.
• Cut the leftover leaves into pieces and place into the bottom of a roasting pan.
• Layer the stuffed cabbage rolls over the cut leaves.
• In a bowl, mix the tomato sauce, reserved cabbage water, white vinegar, and white sugar.
• Pour the tomato sauce mixture over the cabbage rolls.
• Cover roasting pan with aluminum foil.
• Bake in preheated oven until the ground beef mixture is no longer pink in the center, about 2 1/2 hours. Baste stuffed cabbage rolls every hour.

OLD FASHIONED, AUTHENTIC, HUNKY HALUPKI

Steps:

• Method:.
• - Core and boil the cabbage heads.
• -- remove outer leaves as they become blanched -- do not over-cook.
• -- stack on cookie sheet as they come out of the water - they will continue to soften.
• -- cut thick vein from each leaf.
• - mix together your meat, drained rice, chopped onion, garlic powder, parsley, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and egg.
• -- to sweeten up the meat a bit, I add a good squirt of ketchup (there's only one brand - Heinz) and 1/2 can of tomato soup (you probably don't need this if you use pork - but at least try the ketchup).
• - fill your rolls and roll 'em up -- don't roll too tight - you will be able to tuck in the ends by pushing in with your little finger -- if they're rolled to tight, they'll explode in your hand -- or fold over the ends of the leaf when rolling sort of like a round burrito.
• -- it doesn't take long to do this -- have fun.
• Now for the artistry:.
• - Line the bottom of your roaster with bacon - roaster should be deep enough to add several layers and hold adequate liquid.
• - Top the bacon with a good layer of left-over cabbage leaves -- the ones too small to roll or ripped leaves.
• - layer with sauerkraut.
• - sprinkle a little caraway seeds.
• - layer with thickly sliced onion and chopped garlic.
• - add 6-10 bay leaves, depending on the amount.
• - layer the halupki - alternating direction of layers.
• -- incorporate 2 - 3 inch lengths of kielbasa throughout.
• - add remaining tomato soup if used.
• - add tomatoes and sauce.
• - salt and pepper.
• - add cabbage water to cover.
• Bake at 350 for one hour then reduce heat to 250 for three more hours.
• -- or reduce heat to 175-200 overnight - check to ensure enough liquid - don't dry them out.
• Serve with kick-ass mashed potatoes.
• - roast as much garlic as you would like in the potatoes.
• Cube potatoes and for best results add sea salt and refrigerate for a few hours.
• - rinse and drain potatoes, cover with water and lightly boil until soft.
• Mash together with butter, canned milk, cheddar/freshly grated Parmesan cheese, sea salt, white pepper, roasted garlic, jarred diced garlic, a little garlic powder, and grape seed oil.
• Now that's some good ol' Hunky eatin'!