Although cabbage is a very commonly used vegetable in the South, we typically only fry it with bacon or use it to make coleslaw.
However, when I moved to Europe, after trying some delicious Spanish chicken soup with garbanzos and cabbage, I started finding myself craving this ‘poor man’s food’ in more complex ways which, despite being an incredibly budget-friendly vegetable, can bring a lot of flavour to many soups and stews.
In Denmark, you can often find pointed cabbage, which I had never tried back home, and I think it brings even more flavour to the classic dishes for which I love to use cabbage.
I put this particular dish together with inspiration from the Middle East and eastern Europe, and it really hits the spot on a cold Danish evening.
You can get creative with the spices and the ingredients you combine with the meat mixture, but basically want to make sure it meshes together well enough to hold when being baked within the cabbage leaf.
And if you are short of time, you can bake it in any kind of tomato sauce that you have at hand as the dish is very versatile.
I recommend serving this with rice or mashed potatoes, since it is nice to have something to soak up the sauce.
Stuffed Cabbage Recipe
16 large cabbage leaves
500 g minced meat (half pork/half beef)
200 ml cooked white rice
85 g greek yogurt
3 tbs chopped raisins
2 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tsp butter
1 finely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp (sød) paprika
1 tsp allspice
Freshly ground black pepper
Tomato Sauce:
1 can whole cherry tomatoes with sauce
250 ml chicken stock
35 grams tomato paste
1 tsp salt
3 bay leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
Boil cabbage leaves in a salted pot of water for 4 minutes. Mix meat through egg in a large bowl.
Sautee onions and garlic in butter until soft, then add the rest of the spices to the mixture while stirring for two minutes. Add onion mixture to the meat mixture.
Lay out the cabbage leaves and place a scoop of meat mixture inside, rolling them up and over in a neat cylinder, lining close together in a baking dish.
In a saucepan, heat the tomatoes (cut through once each) and their sauce along with broth and tomato paste, salt pepper and bay leaves and red pepper flakes.
Pour sauce over cabbage rolls and cover pan with foil. Bake at 190 degrees for an hour. Remove foil and return to oven for 30 minutes more.
