|
Contact Us | Directions | Giving | ||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
Ingredients: Filling Sauce Directions: Blanching the Cabbage: Wash a head of cabbage, removing the outermost, dirtier leaves only. Remove the core. Fill a large soup pot with water, 1/2 c lemon juice, and 1 T salt. Bring to boil. Carefully place the cabbage into the boiling water. The outer leaves should slowly loosen up in less than one minute. Remove the outer leaves with tongs and place on dish. Repeat several times until you have about 15 good size leaves (may need to blanch the second cabbage to get better, larger leaves). The blanched leaves should be soft, and slightly translucent, but not too fragile. Turn off heat. Remove what is left of the cabbage from pot and set aside along with the removed leaves. Preparing the Filling: In a heavy saucepan, on med-high heat, saute the onions in 1 tsp olive oil until translucent. Add carrots and continue for another 3 minutes. If mix begins to dry out, or burn, add a little bit of the water. Add rice, salt, and McKay's and stir for a minute or so. Then add the rest of the water. Continue to heat, stirring occasionally until rice has absorbed the water. Remove from heat, add a sprinkle of paprika (less than 1/8 tsp). Preparing Leaves: Pick out 15 of the largest, nicest leaves. With a sharp knife, split leaves down center, along each side of the thick stem. Cut off the large chunk of stem at the top as well, as that tough part makes it difficult to roll the leaves around the rice mixture. Making the Rolls: Preheat oven to 350F. Spray casserole dish with nonstick spray. Finely chop the remainder of the blanched cabbage head that was not used for nice leaves, but save a few of its leaves and set those aside. Cover bottom of casserole dish with this chopped cabbage. Place 2-3 sprigs of dill on top. On this cabbage layer you will place the individual cabbage rolls. Scoop out about 2 T of rice mixture and place on one end of the ready-to-roll cabbage leaf. Roll leaf carefully around rice. Make sure to tuck in the sides, so no rice falls out. Place cabbage roll in the casserole dish on top of the chopped cabbage layer. Continue placing cabbage rolls side by side, tightly, until no more fit. If there are more cabbage rolls left, simply add another layer of chopped cabbage (or several leaves) and dill on top of the first layer of cabbage rolls. Then place the second layer of cabbage rolls on top. Cover final layer of cabbage rolls with a few more leaves or chopped cabbage. Cabbage rolls can also be cooked on the stove top in a heavy saucepan—see below. Making Sauce: In a medium to large saucepan, bring the sauce ingredients to a boil. Then pour over cabbage rolls in casserole dish. Baking the Rolls: Place casserole dish in oven. Bake for about 75 minutes. Be sure to cover the dish during the last 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before serving. These cabbage rolls taste best after they have been refrigerated for at least 24 hours. Simply reheat and serve with a dollop of low fat sour cream. Simmering the Rolls: The cabbage rolls can also be simmered in a heavy stockpot. Layer rolls and cabbage leaves just as in casserole dish. Pour boiling sauce into the stockpot and simmer for 45 minutes. Watch pot to make sure it doesn’t boil over. If it looks like it’s drying out, add a little water to prevent burning or drying out. Again, cabbage rolls often taste best after being refrigerated for 24 hours. Simply reheat and serve with a dollop of low fat sour cream.
| |||||||||
