How to make stuffed cabbage rolls like a local chef
Dinner at Iron Skillet Restaurant here in Cincinnati means chef/owner Laszlo Molnar’s Hungarian stuffed cabbage rolls for me. Even just writing about them makes me salivate.
There’s a technique to making cabbage rolls and they do take time. But that’s time well spent to make this Eastern European specialty.
The recipe I’m sharing is one that Chef Laszlo made as a guest on my cable show. I’ve clarified instructions for you, the home cook.
We like the cabbage rolls served with the chef’s cucumber salad and my German spaetzle recipe. Find those on my site.
Iron Skillet Restaurant’s stuffed cabbage rolls
Both the blanching of the cabbage rolls and the filling can be made ahead of time. Store covered, in refrigerator. The eggs help bind the filling.
Ingredients filling
1 head green cabbage
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef, not lean (70/30 or 80/20)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1/4 cup of uncooked long grain rice
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, minced
2 large eggs
Instructions filling
Boil salted water (enough to cover head of cabbage), core cabbage, and blanch lightly in the water. Blanching softens the leaves so that they can be stuffed and rolled up. Remove and set aside until cool enough to handle.
In large bowl mix pork, beef, caraway, salt, pepper, rice, garlic, onion and eggs.
Mix gently until well combined.
Take blanched head of cabbage and remove leaves, cut out veins.
Set what’s left of the cabbage aside to chop and add to sauce.
Fill cabbage leaf according to leaf size with filling, roll and tuck tightly.
Set aside while making sauce
Ingredients sauce
Cooked cabbage pieces
30 oz tomato sauce (2 cans, 15 oz each)
Salt to taste
Pinch of caraway
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
Cornstarch for slurry
15 oz or so sauerkraut
Instructions sauce and cooking cabbage rolls
Place cabbage rolls, seam side down, very close together in stockpot. I make alternate layers.
Take left over blanched cabbage, chop into small pieces and put in stock pot.
Add tomato sauce, salt, caraway and sugar.
Add enough water to cover rolls. I lay a plate inverted on top of the rolls to keep them from floating as they cook. Bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook, covered, for 45-60 minutes, or until they’re done.
Remove rolls and keep warm.
You’ll need to thicken the sauce a bit with a slurry. I use a ratio of 1/4 cup cold water to 3 tablespoons cornstarch. I can’t tell you how much slurry you’ll need. Add a little at a time, whisking as you go, until the sauce is slightly thickened.
Add sauerkraut.
Serve with sauce spooned over rolls and a scoop of sauerkraut on top.
Tip:
Always make a cornstarch slurry with cold water. Adding cornstarch directly to hot liquid will cause clumping.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How to make stuffed cabbage rolls like a local chef
