How to cook cabbage rolls step by step. Stuffed cabbage rolls from fresh cabbage, step-by-step traditional recipe. Step-by-step recipe for cabbage rolls from fresh cabbage: in the oven and slow cooker

When you cook cabbage rolls for the first time, it may seem very difficult to do. Often the cabbage rolls fall apart, the filling is overcooked, and the dish looks very unpresentable. In order to make the cooking process easier and avoid such failures, we have put together basic rules for you that will help you cook real tasty cabbage rolls without any problems.


Selection and preparation of cabbage leaves


At the preparatory stage, the most important thing is to make the right choice of cabbage. When choosing a head of cabbage, first of all pay attention to its density. Too dense forks are difficult to parse into leaves. We recommend using young cabbage for cabbage rolls, then its leaves in the dish will be as juicy and tender as possible. The younger the cabbage, the softer the cabbage rolls will be. It is better to cut the leaves from the head of cabbage with a sharp knife and first boil them in boiling salted water for a couple of minutes.

Out of season, young cabbage can be cooked from old cabbage, but then you need to take a small fork and first boil it whole for about 10 minutes. Only after this should the leaves be cut off from the head of cabbage. You can also cut out the stalk with a sharp knife, place the fork cut side up in a large saucepan, add boiling water and cook, periodically removing the leaves that come away from the fork during cooking. Any coarse veins or thick fibers must be removed.

The leaves will become softer if the thick parts of the leaf are beaten with a meat mallet or rolling pin, but here you need to be careful that the leaves do not tear. You can achieve softness by putting the purchased cabbage in a bag and putting it in the freezer. After defrosting at room temperature, even the densest sheets become much softer.

Properly prepared leaves become translucent, the filling is visible through them, but at the same time they are intact and elastic.


Stuffing for cabbage rolls


There are many variations of fillings - from vegetarian to exotic, but the classic filling is minced pork and beef, taken in a 1: 1 ratio, and cereals, such as rice or buckwheat. Vegetables and herbs are added to the minced meat. The more there are, the juicier the cabbage rolls will be. You can add sour cream and grated cheese - this will add a piquant and unusual taste to the usual cabbage rolls.

You can cook minced meat not in a meat grinder, but chop it with a sharp knife.
If you twist the meat, then it is better to do it not finely, otherwise the filling in the finished dish will be too boiled and wadded. For taste, you can add onions, garlic and herbs, but they are not added in large quantities in the classic recipe, although this is a matter of taste, of course.

The cereal is placed in the minced meat in a state of semi-preparedness, then the filling turns out more juicy and not overcooked. Rice or buckwheat should be added in a ratio of 1:3 in favor of meat. It is important to knead the resulting mixture of minced meat, cereals, onions and herbs well and beat it, throwing it on top for a few minutes on the surface. This will give the filling tenderness.


Rolling cabbage rolls


In order to roll the cabbage roll correctly, we recommend placing the filling on the inside of the leaf, covering it with the petiole part. After this, you can tuck the sides of the sheet and wrap the cabbage roll. This method allows you to form neat envelopes, closed on all sides. The filling will definitely not fall out of them during the cooking process.

The size of the envelopes depends on your desire, but small cabbage rolls cook faster and taste juicier. A medium cabbage leaf makes about 3 small cabbage rolls. If you are completely unsure of your ability to carefully roll a cabbage roll or are doing it for the first time, then the easiest way is to use chef’s thread or secure the edges with a toothpick, which will definitely prevent your dish from falling apart.


Cooking cabbage rolls


Prepared envelopes can be boiled, stewed, baked, or cooked in a slow cooker. The easiest option is to boil them in salted water or broth. To make them very juicy, try stewing cabbage rolls in kefir. You can cook them in various gravies, for example, tomato or creamy mushroom.

Stuffed cabbage rolls stewed in dry white wine, tomato or pomegranate juice are delicious. It turns out delicious if you use roasted vegetables from your favorite vegetables. When serving the dish, add a few spoons on top. If you don’t want the cabbage rolls to lose their shape, then lightly fry the envelopes on both sides in a frying pan before stewing. In this case, they will definitely not fall apart during cooking due to the resulting crust, which will not only hold the shape together, but will also seal the meat juice inside the cabbage roll.

The dish will be more aromatic if you add a couple of spoons of sour cream, a bay leaf and a pinch of rosemary when placing it in the pan. We like cabbage rolls prepared with a dressing of carrots, tomatoes and sweet peppers, fried in vegetable oil.

Cook cabbage rolls for about an hour over low heat. It is better to simmer in a form with a very thick bottom. Stew and cook with the lid closed. Bake under foil, opening a few minutes before cooking, in order to get ruddy caps. If you cook cabbage rolls in the oven, then place another pan with water under the dish with the dish, this will help keep the dish from drying out.

By following these simple cooking rules, you will definitely get a juicy and at the same time tender result.


Stuffed cabbage rolls for the lazy


If you have neither the time nor the desire to tinker with envelopes, then you can prepare a simpler option - “lazy” cabbage rolls. The main ingredients of this dish are the same - cabbage, onions, herbs, garlic. All this is either finely chopped or passed through a meat grinder. Rice or semi-cooked buckwheat is added to the resulting minced meat, raw eggs are mixed in, everything is salted, peppered and formed into cutlets or meatballs. Lazy cabbage rolls can be boiled, baked or stewed, just like regular ones.

We're missing something tasty. Thinking about how to cook cabbage rolls. Despite the fact that many people consider preparing cabbage rolls to be unnecessarily time-consuming and labor-intensive, everyone likes the result. And in fact, when properly prepared, cabbage rolls turn out surprisingly tasty, filling and aromatic, while simultaneously possessing the delicate crunchiness of stewed vegetables. However, the versatility and versatility of cabbage rolls easily allows us to prepare them without meat and without rice, replacing products in accordance with our taste and culinary preferences. Let's try to find out and remember how to cook cabbage rolls today.

Like most other truly popular popular dishes, cabbage rolls can boast a wide variety of cooking recipes. Every home, every family prepares this dish differently. Some consider cabbage rolls to be an everyday dish, while others decorate their holiday menu with homemade cabbage rolls. Traditionally, the filling for cabbage rolls is prepared from rice, boiled until half cooked, minced pork, onions and spices. However, the imagination of culinary specialists will always be cramped within such strict limits. What stuffing for cabbage rolls is not prepared from today? Poultry, meat and even fish, a wide variety of cereals and vegetables, mushrooms and dried fruits, herbs and spices are used. Any of your favorite products, with the right approach, will easily give traditional cabbage rolls a fresh originality of a new taste, or even completely change a familiar dish, decorating it with a new intricate aroma, consistent with your own unique imagination and culinary talent.

Some housewives find preparing cabbage rolls to be an unnecessarily complicated and painstaking task, so much so that they completely refuse to take on it. And completely in vain! The right mood, time planning and knowledge of some culinary tricks and secrets will easily allow you to prepare delicious homemade cabbage rolls and please your loved ones with this wonderful dish.

Today we will tell you how to cook cabbage rolls. We have collected the most important tips and interesting recipes that will definitely help you prepare cabbage rolls.

1. How carefully you choose cabbage for your cabbage rolls will determine Both the taste and appearance of the finished dish depend. Try to pay attention to the heads of cabbage that are smooth, dense, and free of creases and damage. The best choice for cabbage rolls is not round, but slightly flattened heads of cabbage. It is in these heads of cabbage that the thin surface of the leaf is much larger in area than the rough part with a thick petiole. Pay close attention to the density of the leaves themselves. For cabbage rolls, cabbage with flexible, thin leaves that bend easily but do not break is best. Most often, such cabbage has a greenish tint to the leaves. Cabbage with white, thick leaves that easily break at the slightest bending is not suitable for cabbage rolls, it requires too much time for preparation, and in the finished dish it will be tough and fibrous.

2. In order to disassemble a head of cabbage into individual leaves without damaging them, the cabbage should be properly prepared. First of all, use a sharp knife to cut out the cabbage stalk, trying to capture most of the rough, thick stalks. Then place the cabbage in boiling water with a small amount of vinegar added. The acid will preserve the natural structure of the cabbage leaf and protect it from tearing. Cook the cabbage for a few minutes until the top leaves become translucent and begin to separate from the head. Carefully remove the head of cabbage from the boiling water and, being careful not to burn yourself, separate the top boiled leaves. If necessary, return the cabbage to boiling water and repeat the entire process with the remaining leaves. Cool the finished cabbage leaves and, if necessary, beat off the protruding thick parts of the petioles using a culinary hammer.

3. There is an easier, although longer, way to soften the cabbage leaf and disassemble the head of cabbage without damaging it. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut out the cabbage stalk, place the cabbage head in a plastic bag, tie it tightly and put it in the freezer for a couple of days. Once the head of cabbage is completely frozen, remove it from the freezer and defrost it in the bottom compartment of the refrigerator. Cabbage prepared in this way turns out to be very soft, easily disassembled into individual leaves and does not tear at all. You can use any of the methods we have listed for preparing cabbage to your own taste, the result will be equally good.

4. There are many different ways to roll cabbage rolls. Some people simply roll them into a tube without wrapping the ends of the cabbage inside. Someone makes balls from cabbage leaves, filling them with minced meat like stuffed peppers. Traditionally, cabbage rolls are rolled so that the filling is covered with cabbage leaves on all sides. Place the prepared cabbage leaf on the board in front of you. Closer to the base of the sheet, place two to three tablespoons of the filling in the form of an oblong sausage half the width of the sheet. Cover the filling with the base of the leaf, then fold in the sides of the leaf, then roll the cabbage roll away from you, twisting it into the remaining long part of the cabbage leaf. Nothing complicated, right?

5. Let's try to cook traditional Russian cabbage rolls with beef and rice. Prepare in advance and separate the cabbage into separate leaves. Boil one liter of water in a saucepan, add a teaspoon of vegetable oil, salt to taste and add 100 g. rice Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until half cooked. The rice should be slightly undercooked, with a slight crispiness. Place the finished rice in a colander, let the water drain, and then mix with 500 gr. ground beef, a pinch of black pepper and nutmeg, salt to taste. Knead the filling thoroughly. Wrap three tablespoons of filling in each cabbage leaf. Fry the cabbage rolls in vegetable oil for three minutes on each side, and then transfer to a wide pan. In the remaining oil from frying the cabbage rolls, fry one finely chopped onion and one carrot, cut into thin strips, for five minutes. Then add 1 tbsp to the vegetables. a spoonful of sugar and 200 gr. sour cream. Mix thoroughly and simmer for another two minutes on the lowest heat. Transfer the resulting dressing into a pan with cabbage rolls and simmer everything together under a lid over low heat for 30 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle the cabbage rolls with finely chopped herbs and pour over the dressing in which they were stewed.

6. Do you like spicier and more flavorful dishes? Try cooking cabbage rolls in Tatar style. Boil, separate into separate leaves and cool one head of cabbage. Prepare the sauce in advance. Finely chop the onion, grate one carrot on a coarse grater. Heat 2 tbsp in a frying pan. spoons of vegetable oil, add onions and carrots and fry until golden brown. When the vegetables are ready, add 300 grams to them. finely chopped tomatoes, 100 ml. sour cream, 100 ml. water, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of dried dill, salt, sugar, black and red pepper to taste. Mix everything, bring to a boil and cook covered over medium heat for 10 minutes. For filling 500 gr. Mix minced lamb with ½ cup boiled rice, two finely chopped onions, salt, black and red pepper to taste. Wrap the filling in cabbage leaves, forming cabbage rolls, dip the cabbage rolls in an egg, lightly beaten with a fork, and fry in butter for three minutes on each side. Place the cabbage rolls in a wide saucepan, add two bay leaves, pour in the sauce and simmer covered over low heat for 35 - 40 minutes.

7. Stuffed cabbage rolls with chicken filling baked in the oven are very tasty. Boil one head of cabbage in advance and separate it into separate leaves. Grind two chicken fillets in a food processor or pass through a meat grinder with a coarse grid. Fry the minced chicken in a frying pan in one tablespoon of vegetable oil for five minutes. Finely chop one onion, one juicy carrot and one large bell pepper. Add the vegetables to the minced chicken, add salt and pepper to taste and simmer everything together, covered, over medium heat for five minutes. Remove the filling from the heat, cool slightly, and then form the cabbage rolls by wrapping three tablespoons of the filling in cabbage leaves. Place the cabbage rolls in a greased baking dish, pour over 100 ml of sauce. cream and 3 tbsp. spoons of thick yogurt or sour cream. Bake in an oven preheated to 180⁰ for 20 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

8. Fish lovers will enjoy cabbage rolls with salmon and couscous. Boil, separate into separate leaves and pour ice water over one head of cabbage. Melt 1 tbsp in a frying pan. spoon of butter, add one finely chopped onion and fry until golden brown. Then add 500 gr. salmon fillet, cut into small cubes, and 1 tbsp. spoon of lemon juice. Stir and fry everything together for 10 minutes. Mash the fish with a fork, add 2 tbsp. spoons of couscous, one raw egg, salt and white pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly and form cabbage leaves and fish filling into cabbage rolls. Place the cabbage rolls in a greased baking dish and pour in 100 ml of the mixture. cream and 100 ml. water and bake in an oven preheated to 180⁰ for 30 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley and pour over the sauce in which the cabbage rolls were baked.

9. Vegetarians will not be left without their cabbage rolls. Boil and disassemble in advance individual leaves of a head of cabbage. Boil 200 g until half cooked. rice, drain the water. Soak 150 g in cool water for 40 minutes. dried mushrooms. Drain the water and cut the mushrooms into small pieces. Heat 2 tbsp in a frying pan. spoons of vegetable oil, add one finely chopped onion and one carrot, cut into small cubes. Fry for five minutes until golden brown, then add the mushrooms and cook, covered, for another five minutes. Remove from heat and mix with boiled rice. Add salt and black pepper to the filling to taste and mix thoroughly. Roll the cabbage and mushroom filling into cabbage rolls, fry them in vegetable oil for three minutes on each side, then pour in one glass of sour cream and simmer under the lid for another 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

10. Original cabbage rolls prepared in Chinese style will appeal to all lovers of Asian cuisine. K 500 gr. add 3 tbsp minced turkey. spoons of finely chopped green onions, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of chopped cilantro, three chopped cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of grated fresh ginger, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, salt and red pepper to taste. Knead the minced meat thoroughly and leave in a cool place for 30 minutes. Boil one head of Chinese cabbage in lightly salted water for five minutes and disassemble into leaves, removing the thickest protruding parts. Roll the cabbage and minced meat into cabbage rolls and steam for 15 minutes. Serve with sweet chili sauce.

And the “Culinary Eden” website on its pages is always happy to offer you even more original ideas and proven recipes that will definitely tell you how to cook cabbage rolls.

Stuffed cabbage rolls with meat and rice are a very tasty, appetizing and satisfying dish. It is extremely popular, but not all housewives start preparing cabbage rolls, believing that it is a long and labor-intensive process. In addition, very often the reason is the need to boil cabbage leaves and disassemble them. But today we will cook them using a new method, which I recently learned about - our assistant will be a microwave oven, with its help we will steam the cabbage leaves, which will significantly save our time.

So let's get started...

Ingredients:

  • White cabbage - 1 large fork
  • Pork - 1 kg
  • Polished rice - 1 cup
  • Carrots (medium size) - 3 pcs.
  • Onions - 2 pcs.
  • Water - 3 glasses
  • Salt - 1.5 tsp.
  • Sunflower oil - 4 tbsp.
  • Tomato paste - 3 tbsp. l.
  • Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
  • Black peppercorns - 8 pieces
  • Parsley - 1 bunch

Preparation:

1. First of all, you need to prepare a head of cabbage - remove the top flaccid and spoiled leaves, then put it in a bag and tie it in a knot. Place the head of cabbage directly in the bag in the microwave and set the “Warming” mode. Cooking time depends on the size; on average, a kilogram of cabbage takes 12 minutes to cook. I steamed a 2 kg head of cabbage in 25 minutes.

2. When the head of cabbage is ready, take it out and wrap it in a towel so that it sweats a little more. After it has cooled, take it out of the bag and disassemble it into sheets; even the most delicate ones will come off easily. At the base, cut off the thick veins, otherwise you won’t be able to wrap the cabbage rolls neatly.


3. Now let's move on to the filling for our cabbage rolls. To do this, we pass the meat through a meat grinder or take ready-made minced meat (chicken, pork or mixed - whichever you prefer).

4. Wash the rice thoroughly in 5 - 6 waters (I take polished, it seems to me that it boils best and binds the minced meat).

5. In a bowl, combine the minced meat and washed rice. Three carrots on a coarse grater, finely chop the onion and parsley, divide into two parts. We send one part to the minced meat, and leave the second.

4. Mix the stuffing for cabbage rolls thoroughly and add salt to taste.

5. Now we begin to form the cabbage rolls. Place a few spoons of filling on cabbage leaves (they are very elastic) and wrap them in an envelope.


6. We put the cabbage rolls in the cauldron in the first layer, on the bottom I also put leaves that did not have enough minced meat or if they are too small, from which it will not be possible to wrap an envelope.

7. On top of the cabbage rolls, sprinkle the chopped onions and carrots that we prepared and left earlier. Add 2 bay leaves and pepper.

9. Pour in vegetable oil and add water so that the cabbage rolls disappear. Bring to a boil, after the cabbage rolls boil, turn on low heat and simmer over low heat until cooked. The cooking time for the dish depends on the cabbage; it takes up to 40 minutes to prepare a young head of cabbage, and for the winter variety (with thick leaves and dense veins) it takes about 1.5 hours. After the time has passed, pierce the cabbage rolls with a fork; if the cabbage is soft, the cabbage rolls are ready.

10. When serving, pour sour cream over the cabbage rolls, this will make them even tastier.

Bon appetit!

What to cook for lunch quickly and tasty

Stuffed cabbage rolls are a dish loved by many. Knowing some secrets, this dish can be prepared quickly and without much effort. An easy step-by-step recipe with photos for you

2 hours

170 kcal

4.54/5 (13)

There are probably no people who don’t like cabbage rolls - this is a simple, but at the same time so tasty and satisfying dish. Moreover, this dish of Eastern European cuisine has become widespread in Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines, where its analogues have been created. And there are many such analogues thanks to various fillings.

Stuffed cabbage rolls: what kind of dish is this and what is its composition?

Stuffed cabbage rolls are a dish that appeared relatively recently. It was in France that a dish made from fried pigeons began to be called cabbage rolls. Around the same time, in Russia they came up with a dish of minced meat wrapped in cabbage leaves and stewed in gravy, and they called it “false pigeons.”

A recipe for a variant of this dish has survived to this day, in which cabbage rolls are minced meat or vegetables with boiled rice or buckwheat, wrapped in cabbage leaves.

Moreover, each housewife has her own secrets for preparing this dish; even the gravy is handled differently in each house.

In this article I will try to post a recipe for this dish, thanks to which even the most inexperienced housewife can prepare cabbage rolls. At the same time, I will try to pay attention to details that would help make cooking as easy as possible this dish and save time on its preparation.

At the same time, the cabbage rolls according to this recipe turn out to be incomparable, and when my large family gets together at one table, be it a holiday or just a family dinner, I hear many words of gratitude and praise for this wonderful dish.

Main ingredients for cabbage rolls with meat and rice

For the dish will be needed:

Sauce for cabbage rolls:

  • sour cream – 300 g;
  • tomato sauce – 300 g;
  • garlic - 2 cloves, optional.

From this number of ingredients it turns out 4-5 servings of cabbage rolls.

Cooking time along with preparation – about 2 hours.

I would like to note that cabbage rolls made from short-grain rice are much tastier than from long-grain rice, although I find it difficult to explain why this happens and what it depends on.

Which cabbage is suitable for cabbage rolls

The most common type is suitable for preparing cabbage rolls. White cabbage, in this case you need to choose one so that the leaves are freely separated from the cabbage fork, without thick cuttings.

There are several ways to prepare cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls. For example, you can put a cabbage head in boiling water, first cutting out the stalk. After this, hold the cabbage in boiling water for a while ( near 2-3 minutes), remove the cabbage and separate the leaves.

But I prefer the way the leaves are prepared cabbage for cabbage rolls, which a friend recently told me about. It consists of the following: put a head of cabbage in a regular plastic bag, make a few holes in it, and put it in the microwave on normal mode for about for 7 minutes. After this, the cabbage leaves are perfectly separated from the stalk. This method simplifies the process of preparing cabbage rolls and saves you and me precious time. Let's look at the cooking procedure step by step

How to cook cabbage rolls with minced meat

So, we have already prepared the cabbage for cabbage rolls. What's left for us:

  1. chop the onion, grate the carrots on a fine grater.
  2. Fry the carrots and onions in vegetable oil until tender.
  3. Add half-cooked rice to the minced meat, salt and pepper to taste, stir.
  4. then add the fried onions and carrots and mix well again.
  5. Place the prepared minced meat on the center of the cabbage leaf and wrap it in the form of an envelope.

At the same time, if we add a little sour cream to the minced meat, as well as a little tomato sauce, this will be an excellent flavor addition to the dish.

All that remains is to fry our cabbage rolls in a frying pan until golden brown, and after frying, place in a saucepan. After this, fill the cabbage rolls with sauce prepared from sour cream, tomato sauce and garlic, cover with a lid and simmer for 35-40 minutes over low heat.

Rules for serving cabbage rolls

As a rule, cabbage rolls are served as a separate dish, topped with sour cream and the sauce in which they were stewed. At the same time, sprinkle cabbage rolls freshly chopped herbs, which will enrich their taste with its aroma (dill, parsley) will not be at all superfluous.

Using these tips when preparing this dish, you can create this culinary masterpiece without spending a lot of effort and time. Having tried this dish prepared according to the above recipe, your family will thank you!

Bon appetit!

Some dishes do not need any introduction, since they are dearly loved by more than one generation of people, and cabbage rolls can easily be included among such dishes. Tasty, juicy and tender cabbage rolls are an indicator of the culinary skill of the housewife. Do you want to cook the same? “Culinary Eden” will be happy to tell you how to do this and share all the subtleties and secrets.

The options for preparing cabbage rolls are extremely varied. They can be stewed on the stove, baked in the oven or cooked in a slow cooker, but the filling is a completely different matter. Classic cabbage rolls are prepared using minced meat - for example, it can be pure minced pork, a mixture of pork and beef, pork and chicken, or pork and turkey. If you use minced meat without fat, for example, chicken, you can add a small piece of butter to the filling of each individual cabbage roll for juiciness. In addition to meat, the stuffing for cabbage rolls can also be vegetable, fish, mushroom, or made with the addition of cereals. Yes, vegetarian and meatless cabbage rolls are a very popular dish among those who, for one reason or another, limit their diet. Such cabbage rolls can be prepared, for example, with potatoes or buckwheat and mushrooms. The variety of cabbage rolls makes them an always desirable dish that never gets boring, because the scope for culinary experiments here is limitless.

Among other things, the so-called lazy cabbage rolls deserve special attention, which not only help diversify the usual dish, but are also great for those who are not a fan of cabbage. First of all, we are talking about children, who often eat all the filling, leaving cabbage leaves on the plate. In lazy cabbage rolls, finely shredded cabbage is mixed into the minced meat, which greatly simplifies the cooking process and allows you to obtain a very tender and juicy dish. Lazy cabbage rolls cooked in tomato sauce are especially appetizing. It’s simply impossible to resist such a delicious treat!

When preparing cabbage rolls, you should take a responsible approach to the selection and pre-processing of white cabbage. Ideally, it will be young cabbage of early varieties with green leaves - cabbage rolls from such a vegetable will turn out especially tender. It is best to take flattened cabbage rather than round cabbage, since such cabbage has larger leaves and a smaller stalk. The cabbage should be large so that it is convenient to wrap the filling in its leaves. The cabbage will need to be pre-boiled in boiling water (it can be lightly salted) for 7-10 minutes. To do this, first remove a few of the top leaves, then make deep cuts along the stalk to separate the remaining leaves, and place the head of cabbage in water, sticking a fork or knife into the stalk. Turning the cabbage, gradually remove the leaves from the fork as they soften - this is convenient to do using a fork. As a result, you should be left with one stalk and a pile of leaves in the plate. Next, the cabbage leaves need to be allowed to cool, and then the hard veins should be cut off from the outer surface of the leaves. The place where the leaf was attached to the stalk should be lightly beaten with a meat hammer.

Savoy or Chinese cabbage can also be used to prepare cabbage rolls. Please note that savoy cabbage has a denser structure than white cabbage, so it will take longer to stew cabbage rolls from it, but such cabbage leaves retain their shape well. But from Chinese cabbage your cabbage rolls will turn out to be the most tender in a short period of time.

The process of forming cabbage rolls only seems complicated, but in reality it’s easy to get used to. Place the filling (1-2 tablespoons) on the cabbage leaf, roll it up, and tuck the edges of the leaf inside the cabbage roll. These cabbage rolls keep their shape perfectly. There is also an option - put the filling on the base of the sheet, cover with the side parts of the sheet, then roll it up, and wrap the remaining top edge inward.

The sauce in which cabbage rolls are stewed can be sour cream, creamy, tomato or vegetable. A necessary condition is that during cooking the cabbage rolls must be immersed in the sauce. If you place several layers of cabbage rolls in a pan, keep in mind that each layer should be poured with sauce, and only then add the next layer. To prevent the bottom layer of cabbage rolls from burning, it is recommended to place a few cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pan. Well, let's go to the kitchen and cook the most delicious cabbage rolls?

Ingredients:

  • 1 white cabbage,
  • 400 g minced pork,
  • 100 g rice,
  • 1 onion,
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil,
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream,

Preparation:
Boil the rice in salted water until half cooked. Mix cooled rice with minced meat and onions, previously fried in vegetable oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, mix well.
Place the cabbage head, cut around the stalk, into a saucepan and boil in plenty of water, gradually removing the softened outer leaves. Cut off the thick veins from the leaves, place the filling on each leaf and roll it up. Place stuffed cabbage rolls in a saucepan. Dilute sour cream and tomato paste in 400 ml of water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat, covered, until the cabbage is soft. The average cooking time is about 45-50 minutes.

Diet cabbage rolls with chicken

Ingredients:

  • 1 white cabbage,
  • 450 g chicken breast,
  • 2 onions,
  • 1 carrot,
  • 60 g wheat cereal,
  • 1 clove of garlic,
  • 1.5 tablespoons of tomato paste,
  • salt and spices to taste,
  • greenery.

Preparation:
Grind chicken breast, one onion and garlic through a meat grinder. Add wheat grits, half of the grated carrots, spices and salt to taste to the resulting minced meat. Mix well. Place the cabbage head in boiling water, removing the leaves as they soften. Using a knife, cut off thickenings on the leaves. Wrap the filling in the leaves.
Place the remaining chopped onion and half the grated carrots into the pan. Pour a glass of boiling water and simmer the vegetables for 5-7 minutes. Add tomato paste, salt and spices to taste. You can also add a little sugar if the paste is very sour. Simmer for another 2 minutes, then add the cabbage rolls to the sauce. If necessary, add additional boiling water. Cook the cabbage rolls over low heat, covered, until the cabbage is soft. This time depends on the type of cabbage and averages from 40 to 60 minutes. Sprinkle the finished cabbage rolls with chopped herbs and serve.

Cabbage rolls made from Chinese cabbage under a “fur coat” in the oven

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of Chinese cabbage,
  • 500 g minced meat,
  • 100 g rice,
  • 1 onion,
  • 1 egg,
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste.
  • 2 carrots,
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 large onion,
  • 200 g sour cream (20% fat),
  • 1 tablespoon of tomato paste,
  • 2 teaspoons ground paprika,
  • 2-3 bay leaves,
  • vegetable oil.

Preparation:
Boil the rice until half cooked and cool. Mix the minced meat and rice, chopped onion and egg. Add salt and pepper to taste. Knead the minced meat well. Separate the cabbage leaves from the stalk. Cut off the hard vein from the outer surface of each leaf and lightly beat off the dense part with a meat mallet in the place where the leaf was attached to the stalk. Place minced meat on each sheet (about 1 tablespoon) and wrap carefully. Place cabbage rolls in a baking dish.
To prepare the gravy, fry the onion, cut into half rings, in a small amount of oil until golden brown. Add coarsely grated carrots and chopped tomatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add sour cream, tomato paste, ground paprika and 200 ml of water to the vegetables. Mix well and cook for a couple more minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then pour the gravy over the cabbage rolls in the mold. Add the bay leaf and cover the pan (with foil or lid). Bake in an oven preheated to 190 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Stuffed cabbage rolls in garlic and sour cream sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg white cabbage,
  • 400 g minced meat,
  • 1 onion,
  • 70 g loaf,
  • 2 cloves of garlic,
  • 3 tablespoons boiled rice,
  • salt and spices to taste.
  • 200 g sour cream,
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic,
  • 2 bay leaves,
  • 1 tablespoon flour,
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil,
  • salt to taste.

Preparation:
Place the head of cabbage, cut around the stalk, into a saucepan and add water. Cook for about 10 minutes, removing the leaves one at a time and placing them on a plate. When the leaves have cooled, cut off the thickenings from them. To prepare the filling, mix the minced meat with chopped onion, chopped or pressed garlic, boiled rice and a loaf of bread, previously soaked in water and squeezed. Salt the resulting mass and season with spices to taste. Place the filling on the cabbage leaves and roll into envelopes. Place cabbage rolls in a thick-walled pan.
To prepare the sauce, mix sour cream, flour, finely chopped garlic and dried basil. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls and add a little water (about 1.5 cups). Add salt to taste, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes. After this, add the bay leaf and simmer for another 20-30 minutes until the cabbage softens.

Ingredients:

  • 1 fork white cabbage (weighing about 700 g),
  • 1 large onion,
  • 2 carrots,
  • 200 g mushrooms,
  • 200 g rice,
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste,
  • vegetable oil.

Preparation:
Boil a head of cabbage in boiling water for 5-7 minutes, separating the leaves at the base. Allow the leaves to cool and cut off the seals. Boil the rice until half cooked.
Fry finely chopped mushrooms in a little vegetable oil until they are ready. Separately, fry the chopped onion with grated carrots until soft. Add tomato paste, stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
Mix half the fried vegetables with mushrooms and rice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place the filling on the cabbage leaves and form cabbage rolls. Place cabbage rolls in a saucepan and top with fried vegetables. Pour the remaining water from cooking the cabbage so that it covers the cabbage rolls, lightly salt it, and simmer covered for about 40 minutes.

Lazy cabbage rolls in the oven

Ingredients:

  • 500 g meat,
  • 500 g tomatoes,
  • 250 g white cabbage,
  • 1 onion,
  • 80 g rice,
  • 2 onions,
  • 1 carrot,
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic,
  • 1 teaspoon tomato paste,
  • salt, sugar and ground black pepper to taste,
  • vegetable oil.

Preparation:
Finely chop the cabbage. Lightly salt and mash with your hands. If your cabbage is of late varieties, you need to pour boiling water over it in chopped form for 10-15 minutes, then squeeze it out. Boil the rice until half cooked in salted water and let cool. Pass the meat and onions through a meat grinder, add rice, salt and black pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly with your hands.
Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan. Add chopped onion and fry until golden brown. Add coarsely grated carrots and chopped garlic. Fry for another 3 minutes. Add finely chopped tomatoes, peeled. Cook for a couple of minutes, and then add tomato paste, pour in two glasses of water and stir. Add salt and sugar to taste to make the gravy sweet and sour. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Wrap the filling in cabbage leaves and place the cabbage rolls in a baking dish, lightly greased with oil. Pour vegetable sauce on top, cover the pan with foil and bake in an oven preheated to 220 degrees for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another half hour.

Despite the fact that cabbage rolls require time and effort, this is more than compensated by their excellent taste and the joy of loved ones! Bon appetit!