Golubci Polish Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Golubci (cabbage rolls stuffed with meats and rice) is a wonderful comfort food. Many countries have stuffed cabbage rolls in their cuisine, but Polish Golubci are outstanding in their own exceptionally succulent, savory and filling way.

(Photo Attributed to Author: Kagor)

Golubci Recipe-

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground beef
1-1/2 cups cooked rice
1 large head cabbage, cored
2 tbsp. butter
1 large white or yellow onion, peeled and chopped fine
1 tbsp. minced garlic
freshly ground sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black peppercorns, to taste
1/2 cup ketchup
24 oz. canned tomato juice (you may want more, it’s a matter of taste
3 cans (10.75 oz. each) condensed tomato soup

Directions:

Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring it to a boil. Place the cabbage head into the water, cover pot, and cook for about 3 minutes. The leaves by then should be slightly softened – enough to easily pull off from the head. Remove the cabbage from the pot and allow it to sit until cool enough to handle – about 10 minutes should do it.
Peal 18 whole leaves from the outside of the cabbage head; cut out any tough, thick center ribs. Set the whole leaves aside for now.
Preheat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
Rough chop the remainder of the cabbage head and then spread it out in the bottom of a casserole dish.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Cook the onion, stirring, until softened, translucent and fragrant – 5 to 6 minutes should do it.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the pork, beef, rice, garlic and cooked onion. Season with salt and pepper to taste. This is your filling mixture.
Place about 1/2 cup of the filling mixture in the center of a flattened cabbage leaf. Fold the leaf up around the filling mixture, and tuck in the sides, to create an envelope around the filling. Repeat this process with the remaining leaves and filling.
Place the cabbage rolls in a single layer on top of the chopped cabbage in the casserole dish; season the tops of the rolls with salt and black pepper, to taste.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the ketchup, tomato soup and tomato juice. Pour this tomato mixture over the cabbage rolls; cover the dish with aluminum foil.
Pop the dish into the oven and bake for about one hour, or until the cabbage is tender and the meat cooked well done. The rolls are done when a toothpick plunged into the center of a roll pulls out clean.
Serve your Polish Golubci right away, while nice and hot.

Note: For more delicious, authentic and traditional recipes from Poland, click here.