Stuffed Cabbage

There are many recipes I remember growing up, one of my favorites being my mothers stuffed cabbage. Her cabbage rolls were cooked to perfection and a popular fall or winter Saturday dinner throughout my childhood years.

Cabbage has been a well liked leafy vegetable for centuries, with choices of purple, green and white smooth or crinkled leaf varieties. Cabbage is closely related to cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts and is high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K and dietary fiber. What's wonderful about cabbage is all the different ways it can be used from pickling, fermented (sauerkraut), steamed, saut�ed, stewed and raw (think coleslaw), making it a versatile ingredient addition to any pantry or cellar.

I always loved watching my mother prepare the cabbage for use in her rolls, with a simple technique for softening the outer leaves. She would bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then carefully add the ball of cabbage (that had already had its core removed) to the water. With the water boiling she waited for the outer leaves to quickly reveal and loosen themselves from the core, while carefully with tongs removing them one by one, when she had enough leaves for her recipe she would start work on her rolls. Before using the softened cabbage leaves she would remove the hard spine or rib from each leaf, careful not to remove too much of the leaf.

Another technique my mother recently revealed for softening the leaves is to freeze the ball of cabbage ahead of time (with core removed beforehand), when ready to make your rolls just remove cabbage from freezer, thaw and use the leaves as you normally would, allowing you to skip the step of boiling. I prefer the boiling technique, but both will do the trick.

Some of the ingredients you will need for this stuffed cabbage recipe include vegetable oil, chopped yellow onion, green cabbage, ground beef, cooked rice (brown or white), raisins and salt. You will also need some tomato sauce, beef broth, paprika, and some optional sour cream. To start, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and spray a 13 inch by 9 inch pan with some nonstick cooking spray or oil. Then in a medium pan heat the oil over medium high heat. Then add the onion and cook until softened approximately five minutes, the set aside to let cool.

For the cabbage, you can bring a large pot of salted water to a boil then cut a circle around the stem of the cabbage, and remove its core. Then place the cabbage in the boiling water and after approximately two minutes the outside leaves will begin to come loose. You can then pull them off and out of the water using some tongs. The cabbage leaves will continue to come loose, and you just keep removing them as they loosen, until you have about eight to ten leaves. When you've removed the leaves you need for the stuffed cabbage recipe dry the leaves with some paper towels, or a clean dish towel. Make sure to cut out the thick part of the cabbage rib out of the bottom of each cabbage leaf.

The creator of this recipe blog is Nikki, she is the recipe developer, writer, photographer and publisher for the site. She spent several years at a corporate desk in Chicago, before becoming a stay at home mom in Mississippi. She is the mother of two boys. She started cooking and baking when she became a newlywed back in 2005. Her friends and family began to take notice of her new found love of cooking and started asking for the recipes that she enjoyed and tried. With family and friends all over the country, she decided that posting recipes was an easy way to share her recipes.