Grandmas Stuffed Cabbage Recipes

MOM'S CLASSIC STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

Steps:

• 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. If the leaves do not pull off easily, return the cabbage to the pot to boil a minute or two more. When the leaves are cool enough, use a paring knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through.
• In a large bowl, add in the ground beef, pork, rice, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, eggs, ketchup, tomato paste, and parsley. Mix gently to combine. Add in 2/3rd of a can of tomato soup (almost 3/4 of a cup) and mix.
• To stuff the leaves lay down a single large leaf with the cut edge facing you (where the stem was) and place about a 1/2 cup of the meat mixture in the lower third of the leave. If the leaf is huge add more, if smaller add less meat. Fold the sides of the leaf over the meat and roll the cabbage up (like rolling a burrito). Repeat until all of the leaves are stuffed. If you have extra meat just roll it up as meatballs and place it in the baking pan with the stuffed cabbage.
• Preheat oven to 350F, rack in the center.
• In a large deep dish (4" at least) baking pan (or two 9×13" glass pans), spread out the remaining soup from the open can on the bottom of the pan. Open up a 2nd can and pour out 1/2 of it and spread out until the bottom of the pan in covered in a light coating.
• Place a single layer of stuffed cabbages on the bottom of your pan. Add the remaining half of the 2nd can of tomato soup. If you have leaves that are too small to stuff or are badly torn, add them on top of the soup.
• Add the 2nd layer of stuffed cabbage (you must make sure you have a 1/2" gap at the top of your pan and stuffed cabbage. It cannot go over the top of the pan. Top with the remaining can of tomato soup and spread out evenly.
• Spray the underneath of a large piece of foil. Place foil side down on the pan and close tightly around the dish. Place the pan on a larger cookie sheet to catch any spillovers.
• Bake for 3 - 4 hours or until the cabbage is tender when pierced with a knife. (I start to check mine after 2 hours 45 minutes).
• Remove from the oven, uncover and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

GRANDMA'S HUNGARIAN STUFFED CABBAGE, SLOW COOKER VARIATION

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook cabbage in boiling water until outer leaves pull away easily from the head, 3 to 5 minutes. Separate leaves and let cool. Reserve 1 1/2 cup cooking water.
• Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in wet rice; cook and stir until moisture evaporates, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool, about 5 minutes.
• Mix beef, sausage, and egg together in a large bowl. Stir in cooled rice mixture.
• Place a golfball-sized amount of the beef mixture on the ribbed end of a cabbage leaf; roll up, tucking in the sides. Repeat with remaining beef mixture and cabbage leaves.
• Place rolls seam-side down in a slow cooker. Cover with tomato juice. Pour reserved cooking water on top.
• Cook on High for 30 minutes. Switch to Low and cook for 6 1/2 hours.

AMY'S GRANDMA'S STUFFED CABBAGE HOLOPTCHIS (OMAC)

Steps:

• If you have the cabbage heads frozen, just put under running luke warm water and peel them off and dry them with paper towels.
• Mix the meat ingredients in a bowl with your hands until well blended.
• Place the leaves on a flat surface, I used a large cutting board and place a "meatball" amount in a leaf.
• Roll it until just covered and then fold in the sides and finish rolling and place in a large pot, seam side down.
• Continue until all is used up.
• Place the sliced onions on top of the cabbage rolls in the pot.
• In a bowl (I rinsed the bowl that had the meat mixture and used that) mix all the sauce ingredients and pour over the onions.
• Bring the pot to a boil and then lower the heat, cover and simmer for an hour and a half.

GREAT GRANDMA'S STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

Steps:

• Core head of cabbage by cutting around the core and removing as much as possible. Boil large pot of water (fill pot only 1/4 or 1/2 full -- when boiling put cabbage into water and cover with top. Leave cabbage in water and every so often as leaves loosen up remove leaves and place in collander in sink to cool -- when all leaves are removed turn off water and throw away -- (if you have any little pieces of cabbage left at end of core, you can save them to place on top of leaves if you would like.
• In a large bowl mix cooked rice, ground meat, onion, garlic, raw eggs 1/2 can tomato sauce and oregano and a little pinch of kosher salt. Mix well with your hands --.
• Spray 9 X 13 inch pans with Pam. Take cabbage leaves and fill with 1/4 to 1/2 cup meat mixture (depending on how big hour leaves are). Place with seam side down in pans -- Turn oven on 350 degrees. Make up sauce (depending on how many rolls you get from your cabbage and how much sauce you want,you can use between 4 to 6 cans of diced or stewed tomatoes for your sauce), if you like cabbage rolls to have more sauce, you can add a little tomato juice to your sauce. Pour sauce over top of rolls. Sprinkle with kosher salt over top of rolls.
• Bake uncovered to 2 1/2 hours or until browned on top, you may need to add a tomato juice to them once in a while so they do not dry out --.
• Freezes well.

CABBAGE ROLLS, GRANDMA'S RECIPE

Steps:

• 1. Steam or microwave the cabbage leaves until tender. Let cool. Cut out a 2- to 3-inch wedge of the tough stalk from the bottom of the leaves, taking care to leave the rest intact. Set aside.
• 2. Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with vegetable (I use olive) oil and place over medium heat. Add onions and toss to coat. Cover and cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent. Add tomatoes, garlic cloves, and water. Simmer about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 3. Meanwhile, stir together the ground beef, sausage, diced onions, salt, pepper, garlic, egg, tomato paste, and rice. Divide meat mixture into 8 portions. Place each meat portion at the curled tip of a cabbage leaf. Fold the top of the leaf down over the stuffing, fold the sides of the cabbage leaves in toward the center, and roll up to enclose the filling.
• 4. Place cabbage rolls seam-side down in a deep, heavy pan, skillet, or Dutch oven. Top with the tomato sauce. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat about 1 ½ hour. Depending on how close together the rolls are and how big your pan is these may take up to 2 ½ hours. If you double the recipe it is better to cook them in two batches. It is very important to be sure the meat is thoroughly cooked.

POLISH GRANDMA'S STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• 1. Get a big stock pot started to boil on the stove, and add just a pinch of salt. While you are waiting for water to boil, wash and remove the core from two heads of cabbage. Once your water is boiling, add 1 head of cabbage to the boiling water let cabbage boil until the leaves begin to loosen and fall of easily from the head. Use a sturdy set of tongs or a long meat fork to start pulling them off as they are cooked and place them in a colander to cool. Keep pulling the leaves off one by one until you get to the really small leaves, because you only want leaves that are large enough to fill with meat. I save the rest of the small head in the fridge to use for Haluski later. After you are finished with the first head, repeat with the second. Save your cabbage water as you will use this for flavor later.
• 2. Now you will prepare the filling :} First you will prepare the minute rice according to the directions cooking the ENTIRE box. Yes, the entire box. Trust me on this. While rice is cooking you can put your ground meat in a large mixing bowl, and dice your onions to add to the meat. Add your cooked rice to the bowl after it has cooled a bit because you are going to mix this with your hands. Mix meat, onions, and rice until completely combined and add salt and pepper to taste. (My grandmother never measures..just a generous pinch of each)
• 3. Now it is time to fill and roll your cabbages. Everyone in my family has their own technique, but I will try to walk you through my easy method. 1. Get a cooled cabbage leaf and lay it flat on your workspace. Use a small sharp knife to "fillet" off the tough vein that you will find running through the center of it. 2. Grab a hand full of your meat filling about the size of a large egg and place on the leaf near the bottom. (you will be rolling from the bottom up) 3. Roll up filling in leaf about half-way and then you are going to fold in the left side and right sides of the cabbage to "tuck it in". 4. Roll up all of the way and start stacking these babies on a tray. Keep filling and rolling until you have used all of your leaves. 5. Any left over filling can be rolled into a ball place in the roaster to cook. We call these porcupine balls. Usually the kids who don't like cabbage will eat these :}
• 4. Now it is time to put it ALL together to bake. This recipe is extensive...but it is WORTH THE TIME! You will need a large roasting pan or a large electric roaster. 1. Open, drain,and,rinse your sauerkraut with water. 2. Slice your kielbassi into 1/2 inch slices. 3. Open your cans of tomato soup crushed tomatoes and mix them in a pitcher or something with a lip as you will be pouring this mixture into the roaster. Add 5 cups of your saved cabbage water to this mix. Use a spoon to stir this mix together. 4. Pour just enough of your tomato mixture into the bottom of the roasting pan to create a nice base for your cabbage rolls. 5. Layer your cabbage rolls neatly into the roaster. 6. Sprinkle some sauerkraut and kielbassi on top of the cabbage rolls, and pour some tomato mix on top of that. 7. Continue with another layer of cabbage, kraut, kielbassi and sauce. 8. Keep up this layering process until you have used all of your cabbage rolls. If you have leftover sauce, generously pour the remaining over the finished layers.
• 5. Make sure that your oven or roaster has been preheated to 350 degrees. Cover your roaster with a layer of foil to keep in the moisture first and then a lid. Now cook for about 2hr. and 30 min. and prepare for your house to smell WONDERFUL!.