Lithuanian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls With Tomato Sauce (Balandeliai)
One of the best traditional Lithuanian dishes that is made in many other countries across the world with just a few modifications! Cabbage rolls are typically made with some type of minced meat and rice filling rolled into cabbage leaves and cooked in a light tomato sauce. Served with boiled potatoes and a generous dollop of sour cream, the Stuffed Cabbage Rolls are filling, homey and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized cabbage white or green
- 300 g ground pork
- 75 g white rice
- 3 tablespoon butter
- 3 carrots coarsely grated
- 2 brown onions half thinly sliced, half finely chopped
- 4 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1 kg potatoes halved or quartered if using large potatoes
To Serve:
- 200 ml sour cream or creme fraiche
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil (large enough to cover at least ⅔ of the cabbage head). Place the cabbage head in a pot. Boil heat for approx. 10 minutes. When the outer leaves soften, carefully cut them off from the cabbage head and place them on the plate. Return the cabbage and keep on boiling to soften the leaves until you are left with just a small head with leaves too small to roll filling in. Reserve the water cabbage has been cooking in. See the notes for an alternative (microwave) method.
- Cut the hard thick stalks of each cabbage leaf thicker part of the stem from each cabbage leaf. Simply run the knife flat across to make the thickness of the stalk the same as the rest of the leaf.
- To make the filling, mix ground pork with rice finely chopped onion. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon 2 tablespoon of filling in the centre of each leaf, fold one side of the cabbage leaf over, then fold in the sides and wrap it into a roll (just like tortilla wrap). Continue until you've used up all the filling and cabbage leaves. (I got 16 cabbage rolls in total).
- On medium-high heat, fry the grated carrots and sliced onions with a tablespoon of butter until starting to brown.
- Place the rolls snuggly in a single layer at the bottom of the pot. Put the potatoes in all the gaps, nooks and crannies in between rolls. Then scatter with some carrots and onions. Add another layer of cabbage rolls, potatoes and keep on alternating with the fried veg until you've run out.
- Dissolve the stock cube in approx 1.5l of the reserved cabbage water (you may need more or less depending on the shape of your pan) and add the ketchup. Pour the mixture into the pot (add more water if needed to cover approx ⅔ of the rolls in the pot). Season with salt, black pepper and add a couple of knobs of butter and a couple of tablespoon of sour cream on top and cook on low heat for approx. 50 minutes covered with a lid.
- Serve the cabbage rolls with boiled potatoes, all covered in the thin tomato sauce they cooked in and a generous dollop of sour cream.
Notes
If you won't want to boil the cabbage head in water in order to separate the leaves, you can also use the microwave method:
Put the cabbage in a shallow microwave-safe bowl and pour a couple of tablespoons of water into it. Place it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes for the leaves to start softening. Peel the outer leaves off and return the cabbage to the microwave to soften more leaves. Continue until you are left with leaves that are too small to hold the filling in.Nutrition
Calories: 502kcalCarbohydrates: 57gProtein: 17gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 386mgPotassium: 1415mgFiber: 10gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 7061IUVitamin C: 84mgCalcium: 142mgIron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!