Golumpki (stuffed cabbage)

[homecook]

I've been making these for years......it's my grandmothers' recipe.

1-1/2 to 2 lbs. ground meat
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cooked rice
salt
pepper
1/4 cup minced onion, you can use dried onions
1-2 heads of cabbage, depending on size, you don't want the leaves to be too big
2 cans tomato soup
water

Mix together first seven ingredients. Cut around core of cabbage, wrap in wax paper and put in microwave for 10-12 minutes. The leaves should be softened and separated from core. You can also put cabbage in pot of boiling water and wait for leaves to separate from core, about 20 minutes. Remove leaves.

Take a handful (1/2 cup) of meat mixture put at top of cabbage leaf and roll up burrito style until all mixture and leaves are done.
In bottom of roaster put chopped cabbage from larger outer leaves of cabbage and some of the inner part of cabbage. Lay cabbage rolls, seam side down on top. Top with leftover chopped cabbage.

Mix together tomato soup and 2 cans water. Pour over cabbage rolls. Cover and bake for about 1-1/2 hours at 350 degrees. Halfway through you may want to baste the sauce over the rolls.

You should get 10-12 cabbage rolls depending on how big you make them. You don't want them too big. These freeze well too.

[Big Daddy's House]

That looks good!!

[Simo]

They look very good! I also cook those, but we call them "sarmale". It's funny, I always thought that was our national food and now I see it's specific for many countries. Here we also have a vegetable variant - we replace meat with minced mushrooms - this is a healthier recipe for people who may be concerned with that. I love both versions, though.

[Big Daddy's House]

Dag, I've made Golumpki before, but it's been ages!! Didn't even know that it was called that!

The other version of that, if you will, is stuffed green peppers.

[Chowhound]

And before I was married to a Polish woman, I always referred to them as pigs in a blanket. Who knows, maybe someone in my family's ancestory used to stuff them with ground pork and it was converted to hamburger, but the name stuck.

[Big Daddy's House]

Actually, you can use ANY ground meat for it, even turkey, pork, chicken or lamb.

There's no law that says you have to use only hamburg.

[homecook]

We called/call them pigs in a blanket too! It was always funny when we were kids. lol

[Big Daddy's House]

I was always told that 'pigs in a blanket was sausages wrapped in bacon, but I could be wrong.

[Chowhound]

That was I was trying to get at above, Sherm, not that you couldn't add whatever meats you wanted, but why did they get that name pigs in a blanket if you were not using pork.
Barb and I are pretty much from the same neck of the woods, so we may share some regional food dialect for certain things.

[Dough Boy]

I make the Slovenian variant (really, its similar to the Polocks version) ROFLMAO.

INGREDIENTS:



1# Meat Loaf Mix (Beef, veal, pork)

1 Medium head of green cabbage

1 1/2 t Salt

1/2 t pepper

Garlic powder to taste

1/4 C Fresh minced onion

1 Egg

1/2 C Uncooked white rice

1 Condensed Tomato Soup -- 10 3/4 oz. can (I like Campbell’s soup the best for this recipe, but you can use whatever you want)



DIRECTIONS:



Make rice according to package directions then allow to cool in fridge. Al dente rice is fine.

Pre heat oven to 350 F with rack in the middle position. Fill a stock pot with enough water to cover the cabbage head and bring to a boil. Spray a 9 x 13 glass dish with cooking spray to hold the rolls.

Thoroughly mix cooled rice with all above ingredients except for the soup. Core the head of cabbage and put it into the boiling water for about 5 minutes. Using tongs, remove leaves as they easily come off the head, and immediately run under cold water to stop the cooking process. You just want the leaves to be blanched and starting to get limp, not thoroughly cooked. You will need about 8-12 leaves for this recipe depending on the size of the cabbage.

Fill each leaf with about 2-3 Tablespoons of mixture starting at the base of the leaf. Roll the leaf forwad to cover mixture, then fold in the sides of the leaf and finish rolling forward. A toothpick can be used to hold the roll together if it doesn't want to stay put. Place rolls into greased pan until the pan is filled.

In a separate container mix the tomato soup with 1 can of water, then pour over the cabbage rolls. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 90 minutes. Serve piping hot with fresh bread. Mashed potatoes make a good side dish with this recipe.

Recipe makes 8-12 rolls. I usually double this recipe and freeze the rest. A large head of cabbage will accommodate the doubled recipe.


If you have a lot of cabbage left over (or if you buy a large head just for this purpose), you can make cabbage potato soup. The water makes excellent vegetable stock. Take balance of cabbage from the water and coarsely chop and put back in water. Take a large sweet onion and coarsely chop it as well. Take about 1 pound of your favorite potato and cut into small cubes (size of your choice). You can also add celery, carrots, turnips or your favorite root veggies. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. soup is done when the potatoes are fork tender. Serve with crusty bread and butter. Can be frozen.