Cabbage rolls with meat and rice

Description

Do you know why cabbage rolls with meat and rice are called “stuffed cabbage rolls”? The root of the word hints at a relationship with "pigeons", and this is true. The dish first appeared in Russia 300-400 years ago - during the period of fashion for everything French. The nobility actively ordered cooks from Paris and arranged sumptuous dinners, where dishes exotic for the Russian stomach were served, including fried pigeons. Frankly speaking, the last dish was not alien to Russian cuisine: it regularly appeared at the feasts of princes and tsars, but the refined French, of course, brought the idea to perfection. Over time, ordinary people learned about this delicacy, only it was expensive to cook it. Here, as an alternative, a variant of “fake” pigeons was invented: minced meat with rice was wrapped in cabbage leaves and the cutlets were given an elongated shape. They called such a culinary masterpiece "ducklings", or "stuffed cabbage". But this is the history of the dish within one single country: similar dishes have been prepared and are being prepared in Scandinavia, Hungary, Romania, Greece, as well as in many Asian countries. The Azerbaijani dolma and Armenian tolma are also relatives of cabbage rolls with meat and rice, only in these cases the stuffing is wrapped not in cabbage, but in grape leaves.

Cooking

Step 1

Cook rice for cabbage rolls. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Salt it a little and add rice. Cook over low heat covered for 10 minutes. Drain on a sieve and let cool.

Step 2

Prepare cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls. Clean the head of coarse leaves. Cut out the stem. Carefully disassemble the head of cabbage into leaves, trying not to damage them.

Step 3

In a large saucepan with a capacity of at least 3 liters, bring water to a boil. Salt. In portions, dip the cabbage leaves into the water and cook for 5 minutes. Ready lay out in a colander. Let the cabbage leaves cool.

Step 4

Prepare stuffing for cabbage rolls with meat and rice. To do this, wash the beef pulp, dry it and cut into large slices. Pass through a meat grinder with a frequent grate.

Step 5

Peel the onion, finely chop and quickly fry in 20 g of butter. Let cool, then add to meat along with rice. Salt, pepper and knead the stuffing for stuffed cabbage.

Step 6

Put the cabbage leaves on the table and lightly beat off the base of each. Spread the cooked minced meat on top and wrap it with an envelope, carefully tucking the edges.

Step 7

In a large frying pan with a diameter of at least 26 cm, melt the remaining butter and fry the resulting cabbage rolls on all sides until golden brown. Transfer to a saucepan with a capacity of at least 4 liters.

Step 8

Prepare the sauce for the cabbage rolls. To do this, add flour to the pan where they were fried and lightly brown it. Put the tomato paste, sour cream and mix. Pour in water, add thyme, salt and pepper. Boil 5 minutes.

Step 9

Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls in a saucepan. Simmer over low heat covered for 30 minutes. It can be served on the table, sprinkled with chopped herbs to taste.