Cabbage Rolls / Golabki / Stuffed Cabbage

"This is a hearty traditional Polish dish consisting of boiled cabbage leaves stuffed with ground beef, chopped onions, and rice or barley, baked in a spicy tomato sauce with sliced carrots for sweetness and mushrooms for heartiness. I remember eating only the stuffing when I was young. Now I eat it all and my kids cabbage they don't want. It's worth all the work! You can cook stove top very low heat, I use a rack on the bottom of the pot then layer the rolls, to prevent burning! Off the top of my head I'd say it makes about 20 rolls (give or take). Smacznego!"
 
Download
photo by Tim_John photo by Tim_John
photo by Tim_John
photo by Tim_John photo by Tim_John
photo by Tim_John photo by Tim_John
photo by Tim_John photo by Tim_John
photo by Mamas Kitchen Hope photo by Mamas Kitchen Hope
Ready In:
3hrs 30mins
Ingredients:
21
Serves:
10
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • Parboil cabbage in a large pot, removing leafs as they fall off into the water and are tender.
  • Cook till all leaves are tender, but not ripping apart; usually 15.
  • Run under cold water and drain.
  • Cut the thick membrane off back of each leaf.
  • While cabbage is cooking saute onion in butter until lightly browned.
  • Put all the uncooked meat into a large mixing bowl add eggs.
  • Add the sauteed onions.
  • Next add salt pepper, celery salt, parsley, nutmeg, and Worcestershire sauce along with the cooked rice.
  • Mix thoroughly.
  • Lay out leaves and depending upon their size, place 2-3 tablespoons of meat mixture on the wider side.
  • Roll leaf up and over meat, tuck in sides of leaf, and continue to roll to use all leaves and stuffing.
  • Place rolls, seam down into a greased roasting pan.
  • Then layer carrots and mushrooms over cabbage.
  • Mix together the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water and brown sugar and pour evenly over all the rolls.
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste and bay leaves.
  • Cover roaster and bake 325°F for 2- 21/2 hours.
  • Half way through baking check to make sure there's enough liquid; additional water can be added.
  • To serve, spoon sauce over rolls.
  • Serve with mashed potatoes!
  • Check my recipes for garlic mashed potatoes. http://www.food.com/recipe-finder/all/garlic-masshed-potatoes?chef=58104.

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. I made a few changes to this recipe for religious reasons, and a few just because I'm lazy, and this worked out to a superb dinner! I don't eat pork, and veal is a little hard to get, so I used 3 pounds of ground beef. I splurged a bit and had the butcher grind up the beef for me from a beautiful piece of meat, and I'm glad I did, because it was really worth it. As for the laziness, I didn't parboil the cabbage. I kept it in the freezer overnight, and the leaves peeled off easily in the morning. I also made this in the crockpot, slicing the carrots thinly, and started it up in the morning and cooked it on low for about 10 hours. The house smelled heavenly when I got home. The kids wanted to know why we were eating such special food during the week, they just don't understand how special Zaar Tag can be! Leftovers for lunch the next day made that day special as well (BTW, these reheat beautifully in the microwave)!
     
  2. It's my second time using this recipe. My family really enjoyed them. I used ground turkey with ground pork and just added a little more of the spices for more flavor. For the sauce I also used a can of tomato soup with the crushed tomatoes and brown sugar. My mom made these alot but didn't serve anything else with them. BUTdon't forget the mashed potatoes. This is a wonderful compliment to the meal. My husband just raved about the meal. Thanks
     
  3. So, we're vegetarian and I LOVE to take non veg recipes and make them veg worthy and this one really passed the test! It's delicious with soy ground meat substituted and no eggs. A perfect Polish hearty vegetarian meal...Thanks a bunch.
     
  4. Wonderful. I made an entire pan of these and they were devoured! The only change I made was I used ground turkey instead. I had meat mixture left over so I formed meat balls and placed them in the pan along with the rolls. Also, I hate to waste a thing so I took the smaller leaves from the center and chopped them and spread on the bottom of the pan to keep the rolls from sitting on the bottom and possible burning- plus the loose cabbage soaked up the sauce and released even more juices and flavor. MMM it was so good. I have never had cabbage rolls before that had mushrooms and carrots in the sauce. What a great addition. Thanks Rita for an authentic and delicious Polish recipe! *Made for ZWT4- East Europe*
     
  5. DH and I really enjoyed this recipe, and it is one that I will make again, trying out a few modifications. We halved the recipe for the 2 of us (and we will still have plenty of leftovers) and followed the instructions exactly as posted. The dish came together very nicely and I did not find it difficult to prepare. It smelled wonderful. I think the meat filling could have been more flavorful, and next time, I will use the proportions of spices listed for the whole batch, while continuing to use half of the meat and rice. I will also add salt to the meat mixture instead of only sprinkling it on the top of the dish. We served the dish over mashed potatoes as suggested. Thanks for a nice meal and one that I will try again. Made for ZWT4.
     
Advertisement

Tweaks

  1. I made the recipe fairly close to written (no veal so more hamburger, real celery instead of celery salt and I doubled the spices), but the result was rather bland. I'm hoping the flavors with intensify over time because there are plenty for leftovers! The blandness could be because I used home canned Roma tomatoes for the sauce. Next time I will either use pork sausage vs. ground pork or/and add garlic and more spices to the tomato sauce. I love cabbage rolls so will keep adapting.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes