A Ukrainian grandmother’s advice: Making the perfect cabbage rolls

Here is a traditional recipe that tastes delicious given to me by a Ukrainian matriarch that to this day provides inspiration to the women around her. Growing up under the Soviet regime, she was not only renowned for her beauty, but also one the most progressive people of her time. She was the first woman in her city to drive a car, actively criticized the corruption of the Soviet regime and organized underground groups devoted to sharing and maintaining the Ukrainian language and culture. Such a courageous woman was known by her granddaughter (who is now my spiritual sister) as a gentle and caring grandmother well instructed in the feminine arts.

Ingredients

Cabbage

1 whole, large cabbage

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of salt

Stuffing

1 large onion, diced (or 2 medium onions)

2-3 large carrots, grated

1 cup rice, cooked in 1.5 cups of water and salt

1 lb of desired meat

salt, pepper and dill (optional) to taste.

Sauce

1 can of condensed tomato soup dissolved in water

Preparing the cabbage

1. In a large pot of water, add the sugar, salt and cabbage and heat up the water. Make sure the cabbage is almost submerged to make it easier.

2. The point of this exercise is to soften the leaves enough so that you can roll them without breaking. They shouldn’t be too soft, though, otherwise they will break too easily. Using tongs, pull off the outer layer of leaves as they become soft. They should come off very easily without much effort! When there are no more soft leaves, cover the pot and while keeping the stove on, let it steam for 5-10 minutes.

3. As the cabbage steams, the outer leaves will become soft. You will need to remove the outer leaves to allow the inner ones to soften. This can be done with a large fork and knife. Set aside the steamed leaves aside and repeat step 2 until you can finished removing the leaves of the entire cabbage.

The stuffing

1. Put the rice, salt and water into a saucepan. Cover it, and while on low heat, allow the rice to partially cook until all the water is evaporated. The rice will continue the rest of the cooking process while in the oven as yummy cabbage roll stuffing!

2. In a frying pan with a generous amount of cooking oil or butter, fry the onions until soft and translucent. Add them to a large mixing bowl, and then fry the carrots.

3. In the large mixing bowl, add the carrots and as much of the oil drippings as possible.

4. Add the ground meat, cooked rice, salt and pepper to taste, and mix with a wooden spoon.

Making the Rolls

Because a picture is a thousand words, and a video is hundreds of pictures strung together…here is a Youtube video describing this process. Start from 4:08 in it:

Now the fun part!

1. In a casserole dish, line the bottom and sides with the cabbage leaves you did not use for the rolling.

2. Pack the cabbage rolls as tightly as possible together. This will prevent them from coming undone during the cooking process.

3. Take the condensed tomato soup dissolved in water and pour into the casserole dish until it is about 2/3 full. Cover the cabbage rolls with more remaining leaves (or foil if there was not enough). The point is to have them covered so that they do not burn before the rice finishes cooking.

4. Put into the over heated at 250 degree Farenheit for 45 minutes to an hour until the liquid has been absorbed and the rolls look translucent.

And voila! Grandmother style cabbage rolls.

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