Polish Cabbage Rolls {Gołąbki}

Anna

7 years ago

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Polish Cabbage Rolls {Gołąbki}

Polish Cabbage Rolls {Gołąbki} – no need for a long explanation for gołąbki [pron. goh-wom-bkee]. For some reason this savory dish found a huge following here in the US. There are about as many recipes for them as the chefs cooking them. I’m presenting a basic recipe today, the way they were made in my home by my grandmother, but this by no means is the only way to make them. Here is also a vegetarian version with buckwheat and mushrooms: recipe here.

Polish Stuffed Cabbage {Gołąbki}

Yields: About 15 rolls
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 45 min

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup of cooked rice
2 medium onions
2 tbsp / 25 g of butter
1 head of cabbage
1/2 lb / 250 g of ground beef
1/2 lb / 250 g of ground pork or turkey
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1 quart / 1 l of chicken or vegetable stock
3 bay leaves
Tomato sauce:
Two 14.5 oz / 410 ml cans of diced / stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce
6 oz / 170 g of tomato paste
3 c / 750 ml of chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tsp of salt
3 bay leaves
5 whole peppercorns and all-spice berries (each)
1/3 c / 80 ml of heavy cream
4 tbsp / 50 g of butter

Instructions

Cook rice following the directions on the package, but shorten the cooking time by half.
Wash cabbage and cut out the core. Place cabbage in a pot (core down) and fill with water to cover the whole head. Start heating the water and as the leaves start loosening away from the head, remove from water (careful! Hot!). Set leaves aside, and also preserve those that may break while separating.
Lay out cooled leaves and with a sharp knife, slice off a portion of the thick part of the main vain so the leaves lay flat (there may be a slight curve in the leave).
Place ground meat in a large mixing bowl, add cooked rice, sautéed onion, salt, pepper. Hand mix until combined.
Depending on the size of the leave, place a ball of meat on each leave in the natural curve of the leave. Start rolling from the bottom, then sides (as pictured). Set rolls aside until all done.
Now to cook, you may choose to bake or boil. I boiled mine, but I'm presenting both ways of cooking.
Boiling:
Place broken leaves on the bottom of the pot you boiled the cabbage in and layer cabbage rolls on top, placing each roll seem down. Cover with any leftover leaves.
Fill the pot with chicken stock to cover the layered rolls. Boil on low for about 30 minutes.
Baking:
Place rolls in a baking dish, cover with broken up leaves. Carefully add a little bit of stock (about 1/3 of the depth of the dish). Bake at 350ºF / 180ºC for about 45 minutes.
To make the sauce:
Blend tomatoes with tomato paste, broth and salt. Transfer to a medium saucepan, add spices and simmer on medium-low for about 15-20 minutes.
Turn off, add heavy cream and butter. Taste, add salt, if needed.

Notes

Serve with favourite sauce.

Even though they’re filled with rice, we always ate them with potatoes at dinner. It was nice to have that starch to soak up the sauce and cut the richness of the meat.