Polish Golabki - Stuffed Cabbage
A traditional Polish dish made with cabbage leaves stuffed with minced pork and beef, rice, bacon, onions, and spices, baked in tomato sauce.
Ingredients
PARBOIL CABBAGE
- 1 large white cabbage
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tsp salt
STUFFING FOR GOLABKI
- 1 cup half cooked rice 230ml cup
- 500 g minced beef
- 250 g minced pork
- 1 large onion
- 1/3 cup pancetta finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 30 g butter
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 2 tsp marjoram
- 1 tsp salt
- 1-2 tsp black pepper
SAUCE
- 250 ml passata
- 300 ml beef stock cube , powder or homemade
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp plain white flour
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp tomato purée
- salt to taste
OTHER
- bay leaf
- 2 cup reserved cooking water from the cabbage
- 2 cups beef broth
Instructions
- Rice: Rinse the rice once to remove excess starch, then cook according to package instructions. Under-cook slightly, as it will finish in the oven.
- Frying: Heat butter in a pan; fry finely chopped onions and bacon for 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
- Make mixture: In a large bowl, combine minced meat, cooled onion mixture, cooked rice, sweet paprika, marjoram, salt, and black pepper. Mix well until everything is combined, but be careful not to overmix for too long; just mix enough to combine the ingredients without turning it into a meat dough.
- Cook the Cabbage: Remove outer cabbage leaves and cut out the core. Simmer the cabbage in a pot of water for 10-15 minutes until leaves soften. Peel off leaves as they soften. Trim the thick central vein of each leaf.
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Drizzle oil in the baking dish and layer with leftover cabbage leaves.
- Tomato Sauce: Melt butter in a pan, add flour and paprika, fry for 1 minute. Gradually stir in beef broth, then season with salt, pepper and sugar.
- Stuff the Cabbage Leaves: Place a spoonful of the meat mixture at the base of each leaf, roll upwards, tucking in the sides. Arrange golabki in the baking dish, seam side down.
- Bake the Golabki: Tuck bay leaves between golabki. Combine 2 cups reserved cabbage water with 1-2 cups beef broth and pour over golabki. Cover with leftover cabbage leaves or loosely with foil to allow steam to escape and bake for 1 hour at 200°C.
- Add sauce: After 1 hour, remove from the oven, pour tomato sauce over, and bake for an additional 30 minutes uncovered.
- Rest and Serve: Let golabki rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.