How to cook cabbage rolls with minced meat recipe. How to cook delicious and juicy cabbage rolls: secrets and life hacks. Diet cabbage rolls with chicken

Stuffed cabbage rolls are the perfect combination of meat and vegetables. The dish comes out incredibly juicy, tender, aromatic and very tasty. We will tell you how to cook cabbage rolls.

You will need:

  • meat - 1 kg;
  • tomato paste - 90 g;
  • rice - 185 g;
  • salt to taste;
  • two onions;
  • cabbage - 2 heads;
  • sunflower oil - 25 ml;
  • carrots - 2 pcs.;
  • ground pepper to taste.

Step-by-step preparation:

  1. Remove the top unnecessary leaves from the cabbage forks. Place the head of cabbage in boiling water for 3 minutes. The cabbage should be soft, but do not overcook it or the leaves will spread.
  2. Carefully remove the leaves from the boiled fork. They shouldn't tear.
  3. We make minced meat from meat: cut it into pieces and put it through a meat grinder along with slices of peeled onion.
  4. Place the washed rice in a pan with water and cook until it is half cooked. It shouldn't turn into mush. Place the rice into the minced meat.
  5. Peel and grate two carrots.
  6. We sauté it in oil and add it to the minced meat mixture.
  7. Add the bulk ingredients and mix the mixture thoroughly.
  8. Straighten the cabbage leaf. Place a tablespoon of minced meat in the middle.
  9. Roll the sheet into a roll.
  10. When you have the required number of cabbage rolls, place them on the bottom of the pan, seam side down.
  11. Pour water into a bowl and add tomato paste.
  12. Pour the resulting mixture onto the cabbage rolls.
  13. As soon as the dish boils, turn the heat to low and cook for 40 minutes. Bon appetit!

How to quickly cook with Chinese cabbage?

Diversify the taste of your usual dish with a new ingredient - Chinese cabbage.

What to take:

  • salt - 5 g;
  • minced meat - 0.7 kg;
  • two carrots;
  • spices - 10 g;
  • a head of Chinese cabbage;
  • frying oil;
  • round rice - 90 gr.

How to make cabbage rolls with minced meat and rice:

  1. We disassemble Chinese cabbage into leaves.
  2. Place ten leaves in a non-metallic container and place in the microwave for heat treatment. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
  3. Cook the rice in a saucepan until half cooked.
  4. Transfer the rice mixture to the prepared minced meat, add salt and pepper.
  5. Saute the grated carrots in a frying pan until they release juice.
  6. Lightly salt the leaves and place the meat and rice filling on them.
  7. Roll the leaves into a tube, bringing the edges inward.
  8. Place the fried carrots on the bottom of the pan.
  9. Place cabbage rolls on top.
  10. Fill the dish with water and add a pinch of salt.
  11. Simmer with the lid closed for one hour.

Multicooker recipe

Required Products:

  • sour cream - 40 gr;
  • rice - 95 g;
  • two carrots;
  • black pepper to taste;
  • minced pork - 0.7 kg;
  • one bay leaf;
  • onion - 2 pcs.;
  • cabbage - 1 fork;
  • tomato sauce - 40 g;
  • salt to taste.

Cooking cabbage rolls in a slow cooker:

  1. Place the cabbage head, washed and cleared of old leaves, into a saucepan and cook for 15 minutes.
  2. Carefully sort through the softened cabbage and fold in the leaves.
  3. Our minced meat is already ready. All that remains is to grate the onion, add to the minced meat and mix.
  4. Add salt, washed rice and ground pepper.
  5. We stuff the resulting leaves into a homogeneous mass and roll them into the shape of envelopes.
  6. We have one onion and two carrots left. Wash them, remove the skin and grind them using a grater.
  7. Pour sunflower oil into the multicooker and sauté the vegetables on the “Fry” program until golden brown. Turn off the frying mode.
  8. Place a second layer of cabbage rolls,
  9. Separately mix tomato sauce, 200 milliliters of water and sour cream.
  10. Pour the mixture into the multicooker bowl. Sprinkle salt and add bay leaf.
  11. The dish is prepared in the “Stew” program for 90 minutes.

Lazy cabbage rolls

For these cabbage rolls, you don’t need to sort through the leaves and then wrap them, just shred the cabbage. Very easy and fast.

Recipe Ingredients:

  • carrots - 1 pc.;
  • tomato juice - 200 g;
  • pork - 0.7 kg;
  • a third fork of cabbage;
  • onion - 1 pc.;
  • sour cream - 100 gr;
  • rice - 0.1 kg;
  • black pepper to taste;
  • egg - 2 pcs.;
  • salt.

Step-by-step instruction:

  1. We chop the pork into pieces, load them into a meat grinder and make minced meat.
  2. Finely chop the cabbage and immerse it in boiling water for 20 minutes.
  3. Grind the onion and carrots.
  4. Cook washed rice cereal in a saucepan.
  5. Pour eggs into the rolled meat and add bulk ingredients.
  6. Mix chopped vegetables and cooked rice. Add the mixture to the minced meat. We put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
  7. We form cabbage rolls in the form of cutlets, place them on a baking sheet or a special form.
  8. Pour the cabbage rolls with tomato juice and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Temperature - 180 degrees.
  9. Mix the remaining tomato juice with sour cream. Pour the resulting sauce over the prepared dish.
  10. Raise the oven temperature to 200 degrees and bake for another half hour.

From frozen semi-finished product

If you plan to prepare the dish several days in advance, make frozen cabbage rolls. They tolerate storage well in the refrigerator and do not lose their taste.

What we need:

  • onion - 100 gr;
  • tomatoes - 0.4 kg;
  • sunflower oil - 50 ml;
  • carrots - 0.15 kg;
  • 12 semi-finished cabbage rolls;
  • salt to taste;
  • tomato sauce - 30 g;
  • water - 0.4 l;
  • one bay leaf;
  • pepper - 10 gr.

Cooking option:

  1. You can either prepare semi-finished products yourself in advance and freeze them, or buy them at the store.
  2. Take them out of the freezer an hour before cooking and place them on the bottom of the pan.
  3. Now let's prepare a delicious sauce.
  4. Remove the peel from the carrots and onions. Chop the vegetables with a knife and a grater.
  5. Fry them in sunflower oil for 4 minutes.
  6. Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, remove the thin skin.
  7. Grind the pulp in a blender.
  8. Transfer the resulting puree to the frying pan with the onions and carrots.
  9. Add salt, add bay leaves and pepper.
  10. Pour the resulting aromatic sauce into the pan into the cabbage rolls, add water.
  11. You will need:

  • long rice - 0.2 kg;
  • carrot - 1 pc.;
  • cabbage - 1 pc.;
  • oil - 40 ml;
  • minced chicken - 0.6 kg;
  • onion - 1 pc.;
  • salt - to taste.

How to prepare cabbage rolls with minced meat:

  1. Remove healthy leaves from the cabbage and boil them in boiling water for 3 minutes.
  2. Sauté chopped onions and carrots.
  3. Cook the washed rice until half cooked.
  4. Combine minced meat, salt, rice, fried vegetables, mix.
  5. Place a lump of filling in the center of a cabbage leaf and wrap it in an envelope.
  6. Place all the resulting envelopes in a pan.
  7. You can simply add water to the cabbage rolls, or prepare a sauce of tomato paste and carrots and onions, as in the previous recipe.
  8. Simmer the food for 40 minutes over medium heat.
  9. Serve the treat with sour cream. Bon appetit!

The times of “wild” cuisine and eating canned food like a “mass grave” have sunk into oblivion. “Bulbulators” are a thing of the past (I’m talking about boilers, but what are you thinking?) and electric stoves on a stool, but cabbage rolls remain! And not only in memories, but also on our table. Only now they are “domesticated”. Well, let's start with a little under the stalk?

Ingredients: forks of white cabbage, onions, meat (beef and cut of pork belly with lard), rice, herbs (cilantro, parsley), ghee, tomato paste, salt, pepper, turmeric.

For cabbage rolls, the rice varieties used for risotto are well suited. For example - “arborio”. Wide grains are quite soft and therefore there is no need to boil the rice in advance. Just soak it in warm water and add salt. That's what we'll do.

We won’t buy minced meat for cabbage rolls, but will prepare it ourselves. Not with the help of a meat grinder, as some irresponsible citizens may think, but with your hands - using a well-sharpened knife.

Cut the meat into thin layers, cut them into strips, chop the strips or cut them into small cubes with a sharp knife. We will do the same with lard. Mix well with your hands, add salt and pepper and mix again. There is nothing complicated here. It takes longer to get the meat grinder out and then wash it.

Cut the onion into small cubes. Peel a couple of cloves of garlic and crush them with the flat side of a knife blade.

Let's heat up the frying pan, add a good spoonful of melted butter and fry the garlic in it. Discard the garlic and sauté the onion over low heat until translucent. Add half a teaspoon of turmeric, stir and after half a minute turn off the heat. After turmeric, it would be very good to add basil. Fresh - finely chopped or dry.

Almost everything is ready for the filling, all that remains is to chop the greens. For the greens, we will only take the leaves, but the stems will also be useful to us.

The minced meat must be kneaded thoroughly with your hands. Not with a fork, not with a spoon, but with your hands. If the filling looks dry, add some water to it and knead again. Let's put it in the refrigerator for now.

Remove the top leaves from the cabbage if they are wilted or damaged and wash it thoroughly. Let's cut out the stalk. In a large saucepan, pour enough boiling water into two fingers and add some salt. Place the head of cabbage in the pan, cut side down. Cover with a lid and cook for 5-7 minutes over medium heat.

Open the lid and remove the head of cabbage using a slotted spoon. The upper leaves should become elastic and easily separate. Carefully remove them and place them in a colander to cool. Return the head of cabbage back to the pan and after a few minutes, remove the next layer of leaves, etc. After the leaves have cooled, you can cut or beat off the thickening of the stem to make the cabbage rolls easier to wrap.

Let’s move on to the most exciting part of the “cabbage roll” operation, i.e. directly to the formation of these same cabbage rolls. Place some filling at the base of the sheet.

Roll the cabbage leaf into a tube. Until the middle. So that the filling is inside. Fold the right and left edges inward and continue rolling tightly.

At the bottom of a roasting pan or heat-resistant vessel (with a lid), place the stems from the greens, having previously mashed them. You didn't throw them away, did you? Lubricate the cabbage rolls with vegetable oil and place them tightly on the stems.

Well, put them in the oven. Without a lid, at 170-180 degrees to brown. Some people prefer to fry in a pan, but I prefer to use the oven. As a matter of fact, you can skip the pre-baking/frying procedure altogether. But if you are not too lazy to do this, the cabbage rolls will look beautiful on the plate and will not unravel.

While the cabbage rolls are tanning, we will prepare the sauce in which they will be stewed. Melt 50 grams of butter in a saucepan and saute a tablespoon of flour in it. Remove from heat and let cool.

Heat up the broth left after cooking the cabbage and add a tablespoon of tomato paste to it. Stir until the paste is completely dissolved, but do not bring to a boil. Now pour this tomato broth in a thin stream into the saucepan with flour, stirring constantly with a whisk. Place the saucepan on the fire and, continuing to stir constantly, cook for about five minutes, but do not bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and adjust the taste to salt and sugar.

Are the cabbage rolls browned? That's all right! Pour the sauce over them, cover with a lid and return to the oven. Let them simmer for about thirty minutes.

It is very good to eat cabbage rolls with the sauce in which they were stewed. Also, good sour cream or matsoni will come in handy. Well, you can sprinkle with chopped herbs.

Greetings, our dear readers. Today we will learn how to cook cabbage rolls so that they are juicy and tasty. Once upon a time I didn’t like cabbage rolls at all. When I was little, I tried to remove the cabbage and eat the filling. That is if the filling was tasty. I think many people are familiar with this situation.

But when I grew up, studying, the army, family, I practically forgot what it was until my wife prepared the first batch. It’s so delicious that you just can’t describe it in words, you have to try it. We will write the simplest, most basic and signature recipe first. The rest of the recipes are also very tasty, so you can choose something interesting for yourself. Let's quickly find out how to cook cabbage rolls.

Before answering the question about how to cook cabbage rolls, let’s look at a few tips for preparing those same delicacies.

  • You need to choose cabbage carefully so that there are no spoiled leaves. It is better to choose greener cabbage than white. And the varieties that are suitable are flattened, not round. They have a smaller stalk and larger leaves.
  • When blanching cabbage, you can add vinegar to the water. It will prevent sheets from tearing and maintain integrity.
  • You can add various seasonings and herbs to the filling, such as cumin.
  • If you use minced meat without fat, the cabbage rolls will be a bit dry. You can then add a piece of butter to the filling for each cabbage roll.
  • To make the cabbage rolls more juicy, add more fried vegetables to the filling.
  • If the sauce uses tomato and it is sour, the cooking time will increase.
  • Pre-frying the cabbage rolls in a frying pan will help improve the taste and make the sauce thicker. It is better to fry cabbage rolls by rolling them in flour.
  • Gravy for cabbage rolls does not need to be diluted with water. The best broths for this are mushroom, vegetable or meat.

All the recipes presented below have been tested by us and are quite versatile. Stuffed cabbage rolls can be cooked in a frying pan, in a saucepan, oven or slow cooker. There are no restrictions, experiment and create your own recipe.

Well, we’ll start learning how to cook cabbage rolls in different ways.

Classic cabbage rolls with rice and minced meat.

Everything is quite simple, but the main thing in this recipe, and like in the others, is to add not only rice and meat to the filling, but also sautéed vegetables and herbs. The cabbage rolls will be much juicier.

Well, cabbage. We take it not just any kind, but with thin leaves. It is better to take flat-shaped heads of cabbage.

To get an excellent taste, add more sour cream or heavy cream to the gravy.

We will need:

  • Cabbage - 1 kg;
  • Minced meat - 250-300 g;
  • Carrots - 2-3 pcs;
  • Onions - 2-3 pcs;
  • Greens (mixture) to taste;
  • Vegetable oil;
  • Black and allspice pepper to taste;
  • Paprika to taste;
  • Salt to taste;
  • Tomato juice - 1 glass (or tomato paste - 1 tablespoon).

For filling

  • Vegetable, meat broth or boiled water - 0.5 l;
  • Sour cream (15% - 20%) - 400 ml;
  • tomato and vegetable sautéing;
  • Salt to taste;
  • Greens to taste;
  • Pepper to taste.

Step 1.

How to cook cabbage rolls? Where to start? Let's start with tomato and vegetable sautéing. Three carrots on a coarse grater. Cut the onion into small cubes.

Fry all this in oil until soft and add tomato juice or paste.

Tomato paste should be of good quality and diluted with a glass of water.

Then add salt and pepper to taste. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let's mix everything well.

Step 2.

Now wash the rice well and pour boiling water over it, let it cool.

We’ll prepare the minced meat right away, at your convenience. You can use absolutely any minced meat. A mixture of pork and beef works best.

Step 3.

Now mix 2/3 of the sauté with rice and minced meat. Add greens.

Step 4.

Now let's prepare the cabbage. First, cut out part of the middle (legs). Place on a fork and place in boiling water for a few minutes. This way the leaves will become softer and will not break. But be careful that the leaves do not become soft. This usually takes 2-3 minutes.

You can also do the same thing in the microwave. But they haven’t tried it themselves, they say the result is the same, but less hassle.

Step 5.

We remove thick veins from the sheets.


Cut the leaves into triangles. But everyone chooses the size according to their own taste. Some people like more cabbage rolls. We like the small size. We get one sheet into about 4 parts.

Step 6.

Now for the filling. We have already mixed rice, minced meat and 2/3 of the roast with spices and herbs. Once again you can check the taste and, if necessary, add spices to taste.

Prepare a tall saucepan or cauldron in which we will cook our cabbage rolls. Grease the bottom with oil.

To protect the cabbage rolls from burning, cabbage scraps are placed on the bottom. What's left from cutting our leaves for cabbage rolls.

Step 7

Now we place a sheet on the table, put the filling on it and wrap it up. You can follow the diagram in the photo.

And put the cabbage rolls in the cauldron.

Step 8

Mix the broth, sour cream and the remaining 1/3 of the fried vegetables. In this case, there should be more sour cream (or heavy cream) in the broth. It will turn out much tastier this way. Salt everything to taste, add a few peas of black and allspice and a bay leaf. Stir everything.

We fill all our cabbage rolls with this, so that the top layer is barely visible from the filling. Place on the stove, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about an hour.

When ready, take it out and serve. So we learned how to cook cabbage rolls using a fairly simple recipe.

Stuffed cabbage rolls in a pan according to the classic recipe.

Stuffed cabbage rolls in a cauldron turn out very tasty. But what to do when it's not there? Or does someone not like sour cream or cream? Let's find out how to cook cabbage rolls in a regular pan. This is a classic. We prepared this recipe for the holiday, so there are a lot of ingredients, for about 10 servings. But you can also reduce the number of ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • Cabbage - 2 kg;
  • Rice - 450 g;
  • Minced meat - 500 g;

For frying:

  • Onions - 320-350 g;
  • Carrots - 530-550 g;
  • Tomato paste - 220 g;
  • Sunflower oil - 70 g;
  • Water - 1.5 l;
  • Salt to taste;
  • Ground black pepper to taste;
  • Bay leaf - 2 pcs.

Step 1.

Cook the rice. First, rinse it thoroughly. Then fill thoroughly with water and bring to a boil and cook for 5-6 minutes. Then turn off the heat, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes.

When ready, drain the water through the drain, let the rice lie there until all the water drains out.

Step 2.

On a coarse grater, grate the carrots and chop the onion, not very finely. Fry in a pan for about 5-6 minutes. Don't forget to stir.

Step 3.

Add tomato paste and fry for a couple more minutes. When ready, you need to put less than half of the frying into a separate container.

Step 4.

Add water to most of it, stir and bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper to taste and bay leaf. Turn on low heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes.


Step 5.

Now for the filling. Mix rice and minced meat. Again, choose it according to your taste. Then we add a smaller part of the frying there. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything thoroughly.

Step 6.

Now prepare the cabbage as described in the recipe above. Cut out part of the leg, put it on a fork, and lower it into boiling water. Gradually trim the leaves from the stem. But be careful not to overcook so that the leaves become soft. This takes about 3-5 minutes.


Then we cool the leaves and remove the water.

Step 7

We cut off thick veins from the leaves. Cut them to the required size.

Let's prepare the pan right away. You can put unnecessary leaves and trimmings on the bottom.

Step 8

Now put the filling on the prepared leaves and roll them into an envelope. Immediately place the cabbage rolls tightly next to each other in the pan.

Step 9

Pour our gravy into the pan. You can add water to cover the cabbage rolls in the gravy.

Now put it on the fire and bring it to a boil. Then put on low heat and cook for 1-1.5 hours.


You can check readiness with a skewer or toothpick. When the cabbage is ready, it is easily pierced.

Even though such cabbage rolls are called lazy, you still have to work hard, although you don’t need to wrap the filling in leaves. You can also cook regular cabbage rolls in the oven. Nothing changes during the cooking process except stewing.

The recipes described above can be prepared in the oven in the same way; by the way, I like it better this way. You can also cook lazy cabbage rolls in a saucepan or cauldron. Try and experiment.

And now we’ll find out how to cook lazy cabbage rolls, also in the oven.

Ingredients:

  • Cabbage - 1 head;
  • Meat - 1 kg;
  • Onion - 1 piece;
  • Carrot - 1 piece;
  • Rice - 1 glass;
  • Garlic - 2 cloves;
  • Vegetable oil - 60-70 g;
  • Egg - 2 pcs;
  • Sour cream - 500 g;
  • Tomato paste - 2-3 tablespoons;
  • Pepper, herbs, salt and bay leaf to taste.

Step 1.

Chop the cabbage, it’s nothing complicated, we do everything as you like, but not too coarsely.

Step 2.

Boil the rice, drain the water.

Step 3.

Grate the carrots on a coarse grater, chop the onions and fry them in a frying pan. Then we leave it to cool.

Step 4.

Now mix the tomato with sour cream. Salt and pepper.

Step 5.

Add fried meat, rice, cabbage and eggs to the minced meat. Salt and pepper to taste, mix everything thoroughly.

Step 6.

Now you need to form the cutlets with wet hands. Fry them in a frying pan until golden brown.

Step 7

Place our lazy cabbage rolls in a mold and brush with sauce. Preheat the oven to 180 ºС. We send cabbage rolls there and simmer for 40-50 minutes.

When ready, take it out and serve. Best eaten hot with sour cream and herbs.

Here again, you can cook delicious cabbage rolls in a slow cooker. Well, you can use any filling. Now let’s figure out how to cook cabbage rolls in a slow cooker using dietary meat, such as chicken.

Although I prefer turkey or goose meat, they are juicier. Stuffed cabbage rolls are less caloric than those made from pork and beef, and the taste is amazing. This dish will look beautiful on the holiday table.

We will need:

  • Cabbage - 1 head;
  • Carrot - 1 piece;
  • Rice - 100 g;
  • Chicken fillet - 300 g;
  • Green peas - 100 g;
  • Garlic - 2 cloves;
  • Sunflower oil - 2 tablespoons;
  • Salt, ground pepper, peppercorns, bay leaf - to taste;
  • Dry spices for chicken;
  • Greens to taste.

Step 1.

First boil the rice. There's nothing complicated here. When ready, cool and drain off excess water.

Step 2.

Grate the carrots on a medium grater. Finely chop the greens. Peas, it is better to use them frozen. Canned can be used, but it won't be as tasty. If you took it frozen, you don’t have to defrost it.

Step 3.

Now chop the chicken fillet finely and fry it with garlic (also chop it finely) in a frying pan. Fry for about 5 minutes. When ready, add pepper and salt to taste.

Step 4.

Now mix rice, carrots, herbs, peas and chicken. Mix well.

Step 5.

Now prepare the cabbage leaves. Everything is as usual here. See recipes above. You can either blanch the cabbage or use the microwave.

Step 6.

Now we also cut out the thick veins and cut the leaves to the desired size.

Place 1-2 spoons of filling on a piece of paper and wrap it in an envelope. At this stage, you can fold all the cabbage rolls and freeze them. And we can continue further.

Step 7

Now in a multicooker, pour a little sunflower oil into the bottom of the pan. You can also add leftover cabbage leaves. Then lay out the cabbage rolls in layers.

Step 8

Close the multicooker and turn on the “quenching” mode for 40 minutes. Best served hot and with sauce.

You can also stew cabbage rolls with gravy in a slow cooker, or you can steam them, everything turns out very tasty.

And that's all for us. I think we were able to understand how to cook cabbage rolls in different ways so that it is juicy and tasty. Bon appetit, share your comments below, join us on social networks. Bye everyone and see you later.

How to cook tasty and juicy cabbage rolls - 4 best recipes. updated: November 11, 2019 by: Subbotin Pavel

Ukraine is considered the birthplace of cabbage rolls, although similar traditions of wrapping the filling in a wrapper are found in other cuisines of the world. The filling most often used is a combination of minced meat and rice. Very tasty cabbage rolls with buckwheat and minced meat, with mushrooms and just vegetables.

In general, the cooking process is long and includes several stages: you need to prepare the filling separately, remove the cabbage leaves, form cabbage rolls, and then simmer them in the sauce. So you will have to be patient and have a well-written recipe, although the cabbage rolls are truly worthy of it!

Choosing cabbage for cabbage rolls

White cabbage, Savoy, Peking cabbage - all these types of cabbage are suitable for making cabbage rolls. But a head of white cabbage is still considered classic, and you can use both young and old. In the first case, the cabbage rolls turn out to be especially tender, and preparing the leaves is much easier; they roll up perfectly and keep their shape.

It is advisable to take the size of the head of cabbage not very large, otherwise the cabbage rolls will turn out too large. But a small head will not work either, because it will be inconvenient to wrap the filling in the leaves. The optimal size is a medium dense head of cabbage, weighing 500-600 grams.

What kind of meat is suitable for minced meat?

In order for the filling to be juicy, it is better to use pork, but not too fatty. It is advisable to prepare the minced meat yourself, since lard is usually added to the store-bought semi-finished product. A combination of beef and pork in a 1:1 ratio is also suitable. But it’s better to avoid chicken; the filling will not be as juicy and soft as you would like.

Which rice is best for cabbage rolls?

Both round and long grain rice will do. If you want the filling to be crumbly, take steamed rice - there is always a corresponding mark on the package. If you prefer a denser “cutlet” inside, then use the so-called sushi rice. Broken rice is absolutely not suitable for stuffed cabbage rolls - the filling will be too liquid, when cooked it will turn into porridge, and practically will not absorb the aroma of meat and sauce.

Whatever rice you choose, you must first boil it until half cooked. Raw cereal will absorb all the meat juice, so the filling will be too dry. If you take fully cooked rice, then during stewing it will completely boil down, turning into a porridge-like mass.

Optimal ratio of meat and rice

In ideal cabbage rolls, the ratio of minced meat and rice should be 70% to 30%, respectively. In this case, the dish will turn out with a pronounced meat taste.

Ingredients

  • cabbage 600 g
  • rice 150 g
  • pork 500 g
  • salt 1-2 tsp.
  • mixture of ground peppers 2 wood chips.
  • water 2 l
  • vegetable oil 2 tbsp. l.
  • onions 2 pcs.
  • carrots 1 pc.
  • wheat flour 1.5 tbsp. l.
  • tomato 1 pc.
  • tomato paste 1.5 tbsp. l.
  • 15% sour cream 4 tbsp. l.

How to cook cabbage rolls with rice and meat


  1. To prepare the filling we need rice, cooked until half cooked. To do this, pour 1 liter of water into a saucepan, bring it to a boil and add 0.5 tsp. salt. Wash the rice in cold water and add it to boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes until half cooked, then place on a sieve and rinse with cold water - this will remove excess starch and the filling will be more crumbly.

  2. We peel a large onion and divide it into 6-8 parts. Cut the pork into small pieces, removing all tendons and membranes as much as possible.

  3. We pass the meat and onions through a large meat grinder twice. Combine the resulting minced meat with boiled rice.

  4. Add 0.5 tsp. salt, 2 chips. a mixture of ground peppers and 0.5 tbsp. cold water (it will be instantly absorbed and will add special juiciness to the filling). Mix thoroughly and place the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

  5. In the meantime, we're working on cabbage. We clean the top crushed and damaged leaves from the head of cabbage. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut out the stalk.

  6. Pour water into a large saucepan (about halfway) and bring it to a boil. Add a little salt to the boiling water and carefully, so as not to burn yourself, lower the head of cabbage into it. It is desirable that the water completely covers the leaves. Boil for 2 minutes, carefully remove the top leaves and return the cabbage back to the pan. If the cabbage is old, boil it longer - 4 minutes.

  7. We repeat the procedure until all the cabbage leaves have been removed. It is important not to overcook them and not get burned when “undressing” the head of cabbage. The most convenient way to remove cabbage from boiling water is to stick it on a fork with a long handle.

  8. If the cabbage is old, cut off the hard triangle section at the stalk of the removed leaves and lightly beat off the leaves. Young cabbage is very tender, so we skip this step and immediately proceed to forming the cabbage rolls. Scoop out some minced meat, form it into a cutlet and place it in the center of the sheet.

  9. Roll the sheet into an envelope or tube so that the filling is inside. A medium-sized head of cabbage will yield 20-25 pieces. Place them tightly in a saucepan with a thick bottom.

  10. For the sauce, sauté the onions in vegetable oil. Add flour and fry it for 1 minute. Pour in 1 liter of water and stir well so that there are no lumps. Add carrots, chopped on a coarse grater, salt and pepper. Simmer under the lid until the carrots are soft, then add the grated tomato (without skin), tomato paste and sour cream. Let it boil for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

  11. Pour the resulting sauce over the cabbage rolls (add a little more water if necessary if the liquid does not cover them completely) and simmer over low heat for 40 minutes. If the cabbage is old, the cooking time should be increased to 1 hour.

Stuffed cabbage rolls with rice and meat are served hot, flavored with sour cream or sauce.

Some dishes do not need any introduction, since they are dearly loved by more than one generation of people, and cabbage rolls can easily be included among such dishes. Tasty, juicy and tender cabbage rolls are an indicator of the culinary skill of the housewife. Do you want to cook the same? “Culinary Eden” will be happy to tell you how to do this and share all the subtleties and secrets.

The options for preparing cabbage rolls are extremely varied. They can be stewed on the stove, baked in the oven or cooked in a slow cooker, but the filling is a completely different matter. Classic cabbage rolls are prepared using minced meat - for example, it can be pure minced pork, a mixture of pork and beef, pork and chicken, or pork and turkey. If you use minced meat without fat, for example, chicken, you can add a small piece of butter to the filling of each individual cabbage roll for juiciness. In addition to meat, the stuffing for cabbage rolls can also be vegetable, fish, mushroom, or made with the addition of cereals. Yes, vegetarian and meatless cabbage rolls are a very popular dish among those who, for one reason or another, limit their diet. Such cabbage rolls can be prepared, for example, with potatoes or buckwheat and mushrooms. The variety of cabbage rolls makes them an always desirable dish that never gets boring, because the scope for culinary experiments here is limitless.

Among other things, the so-called lazy cabbage rolls deserve special attention, as they not only help diversify the usual dish, but are also great for those who are not fans of cabbage. First of all, we are talking about children, who often eat all the filling, leaving cabbage leaves on the plate. In lazy cabbage rolls, finely shredded cabbage is mixed into the minced meat, which greatly simplifies the cooking process and allows you to obtain a very tender and juicy dish. Lazy cabbage rolls cooked in tomato sauce are especially appetizing. It’s simply impossible to resist such a delicious treat!

When preparing cabbage rolls, you should take a responsible approach to the selection and pre-processing of white cabbage. Ideally, it will be young cabbage of early varieties with green leaves - cabbage rolls from such a vegetable will turn out especially tender. It is best to take flattened cabbage rather than round cabbage, since such cabbage has larger leaves and a smaller stalk. The cabbage should be large so that it is convenient to wrap the filling in its leaves. The cabbage will need to be pre-boiled in boiling water (it can be lightly salted) for 7-10 minutes. To do this, first remove a few of the top leaves, then make deep cuts along the stalk to separate the remaining leaves, and place the head of cabbage in water, sticking a fork or knife into the stalk. Turning the cabbage, gradually remove the leaves from the fork as they soften - this is convenient to do using a fork. As a result, you should be left with one stalk and a pile of leaves in the plate. Next, the cabbage leaves need to be allowed to cool, and then the hard veins should be cut off from the outer surface of the leaves. The place where the leaf was attached to the stalk should be lightly beaten with a meat hammer.

Savoy or Chinese cabbage can also be used to prepare cabbage rolls. Please note that savoy cabbage has a denser structure than white cabbage, so it will take longer to stew cabbage rolls from it, but such cabbage leaves retain their shape well. But from Chinese cabbage your cabbage rolls will turn out to be the most tender in a short period of time.

The process of forming cabbage rolls only seems complicated, but in reality it’s easy to get used to. Place the filling (1-2 tablespoons) on the cabbage leaf, roll it up, and tuck the edges of the leaf inside the cabbage roll. These cabbage rolls keep their shape perfectly. There is also an option - put the filling on the base of the sheet, cover with the side parts of the sheet, then roll it up, and wrap the remaining top edge inward.

The sauce in which cabbage rolls are stewed can be sour cream, creamy, tomato or vegetable. A necessary condition is that during cooking the cabbage rolls must be immersed in the sauce. If you place several layers of cabbage rolls in a pan, keep in mind that each layer should be poured with sauce, and only then add the next layer. To prevent the bottom layer of cabbage rolls from burning, it is recommended to place a few cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pan. Well, let's go to the kitchen and cook the most delicious cabbage rolls?

Ingredients:
1 white cabbage,
400 g minced pork,
100 g rice,
1 onion,
3 tablespoons vegetable oil,
3 tablespoons sour cream,

Preparation:
Boil the rice in salted water until half cooked. Mix cooled rice with minced meat and onions, previously fried in vegetable oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, mix well.

Place the cabbage head, cut around the stalk, into a saucepan and boil in plenty of water, gradually removing the softened outer leaves. Cut off the thick veins from the leaves, place the filling on each leaf and roll it up. Place stuffed cabbage rolls in a saucepan. Dilute sour cream and tomato paste in 400 ml of water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat, covered, until the cabbage is soft. The average cooking time is about 45-50 minutes.

Diet cabbage rolls with chicken

Ingredients:
1 white cabbage,
450 g chicken breast,
2 onions,
1 carrot,
60 g wheat cereal,
1 clove of garlic,
1.5 tablespoons of tomato paste,
salt and spices to taste,
greenery.

Preparation:
Grind chicken breast, one onion and garlic through a meat grinder. Add wheat grits, half of the grated carrots, spices and salt to taste to the resulting minced meat. Mix well. Place the cabbage head in boiling water, removing the leaves as they soften. Using a knife, cut off thickenings on the leaves. Wrap the filling in the leaves.

Place the remaining chopped onion and half the grated carrots into the pan. Pour a glass of boiling water and simmer the vegetables for 5-7 minutes. Add tomato paste, salt and spices to taste. You can also add a little sugar if the paste is very sour. Simmer for another 2 minutes, then add the cabbage rolls to the sauce. If necessary, add additional boiling water. Cook the cabbage rolls over low heat, covered, until the cabbage is soft. This time depends on the type of cabbage and averages from 40 to 60 minutes. Sprinkle the finished cabbage rolls with chopped herbs and serve.

Cabbage rolls made from Chinese cabbage under a “fur coat” in the oven

Ingredients:
1 head of Chinese cabbage,
500 g minced meat,
100 g rice,
1 onion,
1 egg,
salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Gravy:
2 carrots,
2 tomatoes
1 large onion,
200 g sour cream (20% fat),
1 tablespoon of tomato paste,
2 teaspoons ground paprika,
2-3 bay leaves,

vegetable oil.

Preparation:
Boil the rice until half cooked and cool. Mix the minced meat and rice, chopped onion and egg. Add salt and pepper to taste. Knead the minced meat well. Separate the cabbage leaves from the stalk. Cut off the hard vein from the outer surface of each leaf and lightly beat off the dense part with a meat mallet in the place where the leaf was attached to the stalk. Place minced meat on each sheet (about 1 tablespoon) and wrap carefully. Place cabbage rolls in a baking dish.

To prepare the gravy, fry the onion, cut into half rings, in a small amount of oil until golden brown. Add coarsely grated carrots and chopped tomatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add sour cream, tomato paste, ground paprika and 200 ml of water to the vegetables. Mix well and cook for a couple more minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then pour the gravy over the cabbage rolls in the pan. Add the bay leaf and cover the pan (with foil or lid). Bake in an oven preheated to 190 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Stuffed cabbage rolls in garlic and sour cream sauce

Ingredients:
1 kg white cabbage,
400 g minced meat,
1 onion,
70 g loaf,
2 cloves of garlic,
3 tablespoons boiled rice,
salt and spices to taste.

Sauce:
200 g sour cream,
2-3 cloves of garlic,
2 bay leaves,
1 tablespoon flour,
1 teaspoon dried basil,
salt to taste.

Preparation:
Place the head of cabbage, cut around the stalk, into a saucepan and add water. Cook for about 10 minutes, removing the leaves one at a time and placing them on a plate. When the leaves have cooled, cut off the thickenings from them. To prepare the filling, mix the minced meat with chopped onion, chopped or pressed garlic, boiled rice and a loaf of bread, previously soaked in water and squeezed. Salt the resulting mass and season with spices to taste. Place the filling on the cabbage leaves and roll into envelopes. Place cabbage rolls in a thick-walled pan.

To prepare the sauce, mix sour cream, flour, finely chopped garlic and dried basil. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls and add a little water (about 1.5 cups). Add salt to taste, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes. After this, add the bay leaf and simmer for another 20-30 minutes until the cabbage softens.

Ingredients:
1 fork white cabbage (weighing about 700 g),
1 large onion,
2 carrots,
200 g mushrooms,
200 g rice,
salt and ground black pepper to taste,
vegetable oil.

Preparation:
Boil a head of cabbage in boiling water for 5-7 minutes, separating the leaves at the base. Allow the leaves to cool and cut off seals. Boil the rice until half cooked.

Fry finely chopped mushrooms in a little vegetable oil until they are ready. Separately, fry the chopped onion with grated carrots until soft. Add tomato paste, stir and cook for another 5 minutes.

Mix half the fried vegetables with mushrooms and rice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place the filling on the cabbage leaves and form cabbage rolls. Place cabbage rolls in a saucepan and top with fried vegetables. Pour the remaining water from cooking the cabbage so that it covers the cabbage rolls, lightly salt it, and simmer under the lid for about 40 minutes.

Lazy cabbage rolls in the oven

Ingredients:
500 g meat,
500 g tomatoes,
250 g white cabbage,
1 onion,
80 g rice,
2 onions,
1 carrot,
1-2 cloves of garlic,
1 teaspoon tomato paste,
salt, sugar and ground black pepper to taste,
vegetable oil.

Preparation:
Finely chop the cabbage. Lightly salt and mash with your hands. If your cabbage is of late varieties, you need to pour boiling water over it in chopped form for 10-15 minutes, then squeeze it out. Boil the rice until half cooked in salted water and let cool. Pass the meat and onions through a meat grinder, add rice, salt and black pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly with your hands.

Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan. Add chopped onion and fry until golden brown. Add coarsely grated carrots and chopped garlic. Fry for another 3 minutes. Add finely chopped tomatoes, peeled. Cook for a couple of minutes, and then add tomato paste, pour in two glasses of water and stir. Add salt and sugar to taste to make the gravy sweet and sour. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Wrap the filling in cabbage leaves and place the cabbage rolls in a baking dish, lightly greased with oil. Pour vegetable sauce on top, cover the pan with foil and bake in an oven preheated to 220 degrees for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another half hour.

Despite the fact that cabbage rolls require time and effort, this is more than compensated by their excellent taste and the joy of loved ones! Bon appetit!