Stuffed Cabbage Recipe

Today I would like to share with you a recipe that I learned from my wife. It’s called Stuffed Cabbage, or in Polish it’s called Golumpki. The video below shows you step by step how to prepare and cook the stuffed cabbage, but you can also follow along below with the written recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 Cloves of Garlic
• 1/2 Onion
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Head of Cabbage
• Pork or Beef (Ground or Whole)
• 2 Cups Rice (White or Brown)
• Tomato Sauce
• Bay Leaf
• Bouillon Cube

Preparing the Meat

In the morning I coated the meat with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. I left it in the refrigerator for about 5 hours, to allow the salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper penetrate the meat. Eventually the meat will be grounded with a grinding machine. If you do not have a grinder, you will have to purchase ground beef or pork; which ever you prefer.

If you do have a grinder, just keep reading along.

Let’s Get Started

In a pan, pour in about a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Then add in 4 chopped cloves of garlic and the diced 1/2 onion. Put the pan on the stove, and turn the flame up to medium. Let this simmer for a few minutes. Do not let it brown, if it starts to fry too much, lower the heat. After about 4 minutes, you will need to add in the cubed pork bits to the oil, garlic and onions. Let the meat cook; approximately 15 minutes. Once this is done, the meat will be passed through the meat grinder. Pass all of the meat, olive oil, garlic and onions through the meat grinder, and save it in a bowl. You will then mix in the two cups of white or brown rice into the bowl of ground meat. Add about a tablespoon of salt. Add a few tablespoons of tomato sauce as well. Mix it all up.

Meanwhile, you will need to bring a pot of water to a boil. In the boiling water, place a head of cabbage. Let the cabbage boil for about 10 minutes; cover the pot with the top, and boil on medium to high heat. After it is done cooking, pour out the water into a separate bowl; approximately 5 cups. In another bowl, filled with cold water and few ice cubes, add the cabbage head. Let it sit for about 30 seconds.

Next we will start to stuff the cabbage leaves. Peel leaves off of the cabbage head. Using just one leaf at a time, stuff the leaf with about a handful of the meat and rice stuffing. Then roll the leaf, see video for instruction. Roll the remaining leaves of cabbage until you use the rest of the meat and rice stuffing. The remainder of the cabbage head can be cut into cubes, see video.

In a pot, add a diced half onion, four diced garlic cloves and 5 tablespoons of olive oil. Also add the cubed cabbage and add a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of black pepper. Let this cook on medium to high heat for approximately 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the rolled up stuffed cabbages. You will also need to pour in the 5 cups of saved water and one cup of tomato sauce into the pot. Next add a bay leaf and one chicken bouillon cube. Put the pot on the stove for 45 minutes with the top on the pot on medium heat.

Serve once they are done cooking! That’s it. I hope you found this recipe helpful, and I hope you give this delicious recipe a try.