mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) and Cathy take turns writing about what, where, how and sometimes why and when they eat. That's just what we do.
Hi. It's Friday and I'm hungry. Cabbage is 35 cents a pound at Henry's and 15% lean ground beef was on sale for $3.49/pound. Add some cooked rice, onion, a bit of bacon and some sort of sauce and you have a dish that is made around the world and be able to feed two people for about $5.
Yes, many different cultures stuff cabbage leaves with a mixture of meat, eggs, onion and a starch. It is yet another type of peasant cuisine, simply made. The rolls are baked, simmered or steamed- on top of the stove, in a crockpot or in the oven, basically cooking with the steam created by the rolls and then served with cuisine-specific sauces.
In Norwegian countries, the rolls are usually baked and topped with a sweet sauce, lingonberry based, or simply honey. In Europe, the rolls are coked on a stove top (or nowadays, in a crock pot) and the sauce is tomato based and in Lebanon, the same basic rolls are steamed and served with yogurt.
The rolls are called golabki (ga-whump-key)(there is a thingy underneath the "L" that makes the pronunciation different) in Polish (the word means "little pigeons").
Making a savory filling is essential.
Cook two slices of chopped bacon in a small pan. Don't drain.
In the bacon grease, cook 1/2 of a chopped onion.
Meanwhile, put a cored head of cabbage into a pot of boiling water with vinegar added to it (I put in about 1/4 cup) This gives a sort of saurkraut flavor.
If the water does not cover the head, rotate the cabbage in the water as it gets back to boiling. You want to soften the cabbage leaves.
Remove from the water and drain. Let cool.
Lightly mix about 1 cup cooked rice, the cooked bacon pieces, the cooked onion, two raw eggs (did you see? I got a double yolked one!) and about 3/4 pound of meat. (Some people use a mix of ground pork and ground beef).
I put about 3 Tablespoonfuls into the larger outer leaf halves (cut away that tough center rib of each leaf).
Roll so that the meat is tucked in and place seam side down into a casserole dish. Stack until you use up all the meat. I line the bottom of the dish with cabbage leaves. If I have extra cabbage, I layer it on top. You never can have too much cabbage…
Top with undiluted canned, tomato soup.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for one hour.
Golabki (Polish cabbage rolls)
Parboil one head of cored cabbage in boiling water that has had vinegar added. Drain and let cool.
Cook 2 slices chopped bacon until crisp, remove bacon and cook 1/2 small onion.
Mix one Cup cooked rice, the cooked onion and cooked bacon with 3/4 lb raw meat and two raw eggs.
Peel cabbage leaves, remove tough spine of leaves. Fill each leaf sparing ly with meat mixture, roll and stack the small filled leaves.
Cover rolls with tomato soup (can add some catsup if you need just a little more liquid or flavor) and cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes.
Serve with mashed potatoes.