Golabki - Cabbage Rolls

Sue Lau's Note:

This is how I like my cabbage rolls. I came to love sauerkraut rolls prepared this way when I tried something similar at the sauerkraut festival in my little town. The church that made them one year posted the recipe (albeit it was for umpteen million of these) and while I wasn't smart enough to jot that recipe down at the time, I did remember some key ingredients. This recipe is very close to theirs in taste, and that's great because now I don't have to wait for 1 year to pass before I can have them again. They are very simple to make if you freeze the cabbage, and make a great hearty entree. I hope you enjoy!

• Total Time: 9 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 8 hrs
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 5

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 large sweet onion , finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 head cabbage
• 1 (10 ¾ ounce) can condensed tomato soup , undiluted
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup uncooked long grain rice
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 32 ounces sauerkraut , rinsed and drained (reserve juice)
• 1 ½ cups tomato juice
• 1 cup water or 1 cup additional tomato juice (or reserved sauerkraut juice)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 -3 teaspoons sweet paprika

Directions:

1. Wrap cabbage in plastic wrap and place in freezer; allow to freeze overnight.
2. Thaw before using; when thawed, core cabbage and carefully remove leaves, leaving them whole.
3. Alternatively, you may core cabbage, and immerse it into boiling water, removing it every few minutes and carefully lifting away loosened leaves.
4. Rinse sauerkraut and allow to drain.
5. Brown ground pork, beef, onion, salt and pepper in a large skillet, and drain off any fat.
6. Allow meat mixture to cool slightly, then stir in condensed tomato soup, egg, uncooked rice and paprika.
7. Preheat oven to 350°F.
8. Place one cabbage leaf flat, and towards the stem end, place some of the meat mixture on the leaf.
9. The amount of meat you use will vary, depending on the leaf size; make sure it is not overstuffed (rice expands during cooking).
10. Fold sides of cabbage leaf over meat and roll up loosely until meat mixture is sealed within the roll.
11. Place the cabbage roll seam-side-down in a large casserole dish or lasagna pan.
12. Continue rolling up cabbage until you run out of meat or leaves large enough to use.
13. If you have leftover meat, spoon it into the cracks between the cabbage rolls.
14. If you have leftover cabbage, chop it coarsely and layer over the top of the rolls.
15. Spread sauerkraut evenly over the top of the cabbage rolls.
16. Stir together tomato juice, with water/tomato juice/kraut juice (make sure your total is about 2 1/2 cups) along with the 2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce.
17. Pour this over the cabbage rolls.
18. Sprinkle lightly with remaining paprika.
19. Cover casserole (may use foil) and bake for one hour.
20. Remove foil or other covering and bake 30 minutes more.

Reviews

[Shelly56]

the flavor was there,but I would add 1 more egg and use precooked rice,it was not done.I didn't freeze the cabage because the store I stopped at,the cabbage was ,terrible so I just put a big meat fork in the core in boiling water and cut them off as they were tender onto a cookie sheet, no probem.The polish resaurants where I have had these the meat holds together more like meat loaf, I guess that is what I would like, to be able to slice them, other wise you could have put all in like a casserole,because they fell apart. Served them with piergo's sauteed with onion and baconThank You for a wonderful tasteing recipe! My husband loved it! So did I! sorry to make a few changes. All your recipes look grea can't wait to try more.Easy one's at least. Thanks again

[Bergy]

These are great -Love the sauerkraut over them. What an neat shortcut to freeze the leaves, they are so easy to work with. I cut the recipe back to 4 cabbage rolls- no problem. Used half Kraut juice & half Tomato. Thanks Sue it's a keeper