Russian Cabbage Rolls

 Several years ago, someone shared a recipe for cabbage rolls with me that was different.  It had raisins and I think chili powder and cinnamon.  It was sweet and sour but spicy and aromatic.   I don't know how on earth I lost the recipe, but I recently spent days thumbing through my recipe notebook, and I couldn't find it anywhere.  

I went online to research recipes and my first efforts were frustrating beyond words.   Today, I searched again because I really wanted Russian Cabbage Rolls.  The weather is cooler than it's been and perfect for a long slow simmering meal.

I had some luck.  I altered the recipe I found. I didn't add in the cinnamon nor chili powder (neither of which the recipe included, nor did I include the green bell pepper that the author of the recipe included in hers.  And because her recipe was meant to feed an army apparently, I quartered the recipe.  I grabbed some extra items from the fridge to include that needed to be used up.  I skipped steps that seemed unnecessary and decreased my dishwashing in a minor way.  I'll share my recipe since I so altered the original one.  

Blue House Journal Russian Cabbage Rolls

1 head of cabbage with lovely green outer leaves (I had ten really nice leaves on the outside of mine)

1 onion, roughly diced

1/2 cup celery roughly diced

1 carrot, roughly diced (I grated mine because John doesn't eat cooked carrots, unless he can't see them)

For sauce:

3-4 cups diced tomatoes with juices

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup dark raisins

Meat Filling

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 cup rice

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1 egg

salt and pepper

Strip the outer leaves from the cabbage.  As I said, I found a really lovely leafy cabbage this time around and I saved the leaves specially to make this dish.  I also diced about half the very large head into rough pieces.

Chop onions, celery, carrots.

In a Dutch oven, bring 2 cups water to a boil.   Cut the tough white part of the leaf stem out of the leaf.  Blanch leaves one at a time.  Drain.  Set aside to cool.  Pour water out of Dutch oven.  Fill bottom of pan with chopped vegetables.  

Mix meat, rice, garlic, salt and pepper, egg.  Take a little of the onion and celery and dice it more finely and add into the meat.  Mix well.  

Divide meat mixture between blanched cabbage leaves.  Mine came out to about 2 tablespoons of meat per leaf. Roll sort of like a burrito, starting at the wide end of the leaf and folding in sides as you roll.  Place each roll on top of vegetables in the Dutch oven.  

Pour all the sauce ingredients on top of the rolls.  I also added about 1/2 a tomato can of water but check liquid levels before you do this.  The vegetables are also going to produce some liquid of their own.

Bring to a boil.  Cover and lower heat to a low simmer.  Let cook three hours or so.

notes:  Instead of using a second can of tomatoes, I chopped two tomatoes that were looking a little worse for wear.  They were medium sized, so I figure the equivalent of a 15 ounce can.

Because I use brown rice, I chose to use instant brown rice instead of regular long grain white.   This held up just fine and was perfectly cooked but not overcooked.  

verdict:  This was delicious.   I tasted of it about 2 hours in and added in the vinegar since I felt it was a bit too sweet for my tastes.  The vinegar made a nice balance of the sauce.   I served a big plate of the cabbage with two rolls per plate and a side of cornbread to soak up all that lovely sauce.