Authentic Halupki Cabbage Rolls Recipes

Steps:

• Place the cabbage in a stockpot with enough water to cover.
• Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the water and cabbage.
• Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn cabbage every 2-3 minutes and remove leaves that separate from cabbage and place in a strainer to cool. Boil until all the leaves have cooked, about 15 minutes.
• Reserve 12 oz. of cabbage water.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Trim thick center vein off of bottom of each cabbage leaf.
• In a large bowl thoroughly mix together, ground beef, ground pork, rice, chopped onion, fresh parsley, egg, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
• Lightly pack a small amount of meat mixture and place in the center of the cabbage leaf.
• Fold sides over the filling and start at the stem and roll the cabbage up until the meat is encased. Repeat with remaining leaves and filling.
• Cut the leftover leaves into pieces and place into the bottom of a roasting pan.
• Layer the stuffed cabbage rolls over the cut leaves.
• In a bowl, mix the tomato sauce, reserved cabbage water, white vinegar, and white sugar.
• Pour the tomato sauce mixture over the cabbage rolls.
• Cover roasting pan with aluminum foil.
• Bake in preheated oven until the ground beef mixture is no longer pink in the center, about 2 1/2 hours. Baste stuffed cabbage rolls every hour.

Steps:

• 1. After cabbage cooks, allow it to cool a bit so you can handle. You will be tearing off the leaves to use as the base for this dish. I tear all my leaves off before mixing my meats to get a little assembly line ready.
• 2. Mix ground beef & pork together. (I was taught to use my hands, NEVER a spoon.) Salt & pepper the meat generously and mix. Add about 2 TBS of paprika & garlic powder & mix.
• 3. Now add the eggs & mix well. Add the juice from the sauerkraut, about 1/3 cup of tomato sauce, onions (I saute my onions in about 2 tsps of shortening until they are nice & brown), and rice. Mix and mix and mix well.
• 4. Pour the rest of the tomato sauce in the bottom of your crockpot (you will need one very large one or 2 smaller).
• 5. Form oval type meatballs for each cabbage leaf. Place the meat in the cabbage leaf, and then gently roll up & tuck underneath, as needed. If it is your first time making them, you may want to use toothpicks to hold each roll together until you get the hang of working w/ the cabbage.
• 6. Begin layering the cabbage rolls on top of the sauce, then some kraut, then some crushed tomatoes. Continue layering. I add ground black pepper in between. I also tuck in any of the cabbage leaves that have torn or are not good for rolling in between the layers.
• 7. Top with crushed tomatoes & cook in crockpot for about 10 hours. And, enjoy! I always serve with mashed potatoes. YUMMMY!!!!

Steps:

• To make the sauce:
• Coat a 3-quart saucepan with the oil and place over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar; simmer, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
• Place a skillet over medium heat and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until soft. Stir in the tomato paste, a splash of wine, parsley, and 1/2 cup of the prepared sweet and sour tomato sauce, mix to incorporate and then take it off the heat. Combine the ground meat in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg, the cooked rice, and the sauteed onion mixture. Toss the filling together with your hands to combine, season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the large, damaged outer leaves from the cabbages and set aside. Cut out the cores of the cabbages with a sharp knife and carefully pull off all the rest of the leaves, keeping them whole and as undamaged as possible, (get rid of all the small leaves and use them for coleslaw or whatever.) Blanch the cabbage leaves in the pot of boiling water for 5 minutes, or until pliable. Run the leaves under cool water then lay them out so you can assess just how many blankets you have to wrap up the filling. Next, carefully cut out the center vein from the leaves so they will be easier to roll up. Take the reserved big outer leaves and lay them on the bottom of a casserole pan, let part of the leaves hang out the sides of the pan. This insulation will prevent the cabbage rolls from burning on the bottom when baked. Use all the good looking leaves to make the cabbage rolls. Put about 1/2 cup of the meat filling in the center of the cabbage and starting at what was the stem-end, fold the sides in and roll up the cabbage to enclose the filling. Place the cabbage rolls side by side in rows, seam-side down, in a casserole pan.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Pour the remaining sweet and sour tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls. Fold the hanging leaves over the top to enclose and keep the moisture in. Drizzle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 1 hour until the meat is cooked.

Steps:

• Cook ground beef & drain half the fat.
• Partially cool and mix in large bowl with oleo/butter, rice, onion, S&P, and eggs.
• Boil leaves of cabbage head(best to core it first so that they are easier to get off).
• Fold meat mixture into the leaves.
• Layer in large pot over aluminum foil lining.
• Layer as follows: cabbage leaves, rolls, saurkraut, tomato soup(per every one can add apprx 1/2 can of water).
• Repeat these layers until you run out of rolls.
• Cook medium heat for apprx 1 hour.

Steps:

• 1. CABBAGE: In a large soup/stock pot add enough, lightly salted, water to submerge a head of cabbage. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Core each whole head of cabbage.
• 2. CABBAGE: Parboil cabbage until slightly tender.
• 3. CABBAGE: Remove the outer leaves as they become tender - do not overcook. Drain well and let cool.
• 4. ONIONS, PEPPERS & GARLIC: Dice onions and green peppers. Peel cloves of garlic and mince.
• 5. ONIONS, PEPPERS & GARLIC: Heat oil in pan, stir in onions, peppers, and seasoning; cook until just tender. Remove from heat; set aside to cool. *Vegetables should be tender but still be able to retain their shape and texture through mixing and baking.
• 6. MEAT MIXTURE: Season the meat and mix well with your hands, squeezing meat through your fingers to mix thoroughly. Add cooled onion/pepper mixture, minced garlic, and rice.
• 7. MEAT MIXTURE: Again with your hands, mix in cooled onion/pepper mixture, minced garlic, and 2 cups of the rice. Mix until well incorporated. Add more rice and additional seasoning if needed. *At this point I like to take a pinch of meat and fry in a small pan to test the seasoning before assembling the cabbage rolls.
• 8. CABBAGE ROLLS: Take about 1/3 of a cup of meat and roll into about a 3" oblong tube of meat. Place meat at cored end of one leaf of cabbage.
• 9. CABBAGE ROLLS: Tightly roll meat in cabbage (away from you) until you no longer see the meat and the cored end of cabbage meets middle of cabbage leaf.
• 10. CABBAGE ROLLS: Take excess cabbage from both sides of meat and neatly and tightly fold in towards each other, allowing the cabbage above the meat to neatly fold in evenly. *See picture*
• 11. CABBAGE ROLLS: Continue to roll meat tightly until the cabbage is completely and neatly wrapped. At this point you can gently push the cabbage into the meat on each end of the meat - this helps secure the cabbage in place while cooking. Don't use the smaller leaves, set aside for later. Continue rolling until all of the meat is used. You should have cabbage leftover.
• 12. CABBAGE ROLLS TIP: If the thick vein of the cabbage makes it too tough to roll you can simply trim the vein. Be careful not to trim too much of the cabbage. You can see where the vein was trimmed in steps 9 - 11.
• 13. FREEZING: At this point you can freeze your cabbage rolls by placing them spaced evenly without touching on a baking sheet and place into the freezer until completely frozen. Then place the individually frozen cabbage rolls in a freezer safe plastic bag and back into the freezer until ready to use.
• 14. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: Layer enough leaves in a single layers at the bottom of your roaster.
• 15. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: (optional) Next spread a layer of sauerkraut
• 16. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: Add a layer of cabbage rolls. At this point, if you plan to double layer your cabbage rolls repeat with a layer of cabbage, sauerkraut, and some tomatoes/sauce before adding the second layer of rolls.
• 17. LAYERING CABBAGE ROLLS: Top cabbage rolls with remaining cabbage and sauerkraut. Pour tomatoes/soup/sauce evenly over cabbage rolls.
• 18. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is fully cooked and a cabbage roll can easily be cut through with the side of a fork. *This cooking time is based on cooking 20 - 25 thawed cabbage rolls in a single layer.