Stuffed cabbage is a very unusual dish, although at first glance quite simple and understandable. Stuffed cabbage is a national dish of many countries. The recipes of stuffed cabbage are especially reverent in Western Asia and the Caucasus. However, for Eastern Europeans, too, stuffed cabbage is an important dish in history and culture. Stuffed
cabbage has spread far beyond Western Asia and Europe. China has a similar dish. But, instead of meat, shiitake mushrooms, tofu and seafood are wrapped in cabbage leaves. Scandinavian stuffed cabbage has a filling of pork and potatoes. Scandinavian stuffed cabbage is served with lingonberry jam
. Let’s tell you how to cook the classic version of stuffed cabbage.
Ingredients for stuffed cabbage:
- Peking cabbage – 1 pc;
- potatoes – 750 g;
- vegetable oil – 50 ml;
- bay leaf – 3 pcs;
- minced meat – 500 g;
- raw rice – 50 g;
- onion – 100 g;
- salt – ½ tsp.
Ingredients for the sauce:
- sweet pepper – 100 g;
- carrots – 200 g;
- onion – 250 g;
- Peking cabbage – 100 g;
- tomato paste – 40 g;
- butter – 30 g;
- sour cream – 80 g;
- boiled water – 1000 ml;
- salt – a pinch;
- vegetable oil – 50 ml.
Preparation of stuffed cabbage:
Boil the washed rice until half-cooked for about 5 minutes. Dice the onion into small cubes. Put in a bowl with minced rice and onions, salt and mix.
Divide cabbage into leaves and core
.
Knead the leaves slightly, and chop the core. ½ of the chopped cabbage is sent to the minced cabbage, mix.
Pour boiling water over the leaves for a minute, then take them out of the water. Cut off the thick base of each leaf, divide the leaves lengthwise in half.
Put the stuffing in
the halves
of the leaves, wrap inside, fold the edges of the leaves inside.
Peel the potatoes, cut into not particularly large cubes
.
Fry the potatoes in a frying pan
in
vegetable oil, and then put them in a frying pan. Next, fry the stuffed cabbage until golden color.
For the sauce, peel off the insides of the peppers, cut into straws. Grate carrots on a coarse grater, cut onions finely
. Put stuffed cabbage on a layer of potatoes.
In a frying pan separately fry onions, carrots and peppers. Add shredded Peking cabbage to the fried vegetables, salt. Stir fried vegetables, add tomato paste and butter.
Mix all the components, and then chop to a puree with an immersion blender.
Combine the puree with sour cream, dilute the density with water.
Pour the resulting sauce into the frying pan to the stuffed cabbage
.
Cover the fryer with a lid, bring to a boil. Put a bay leaf in the sauce, cover and cook the stuffed cabbage for 30 minutes over low heat.
You get tender, juicy stuffed cabbage in Peking cabbage. Such stuffed cabbage will not unfold during cooking and will retain a beautiful appearance.
