Ingredients — serves 4–6
For the cabbage rolls:
- 1 large green cabbage
- 500 g ground beef or a mixture of beef and pork
- 150 g white rice
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp dried marjoram
For the sauce:
- 500 ml tomato passata or crushed tomatoes
- 250 ml beef or chicken stock
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp butter or oil
👨🍳 Method
- Prepare the cabbage: Remove the damaged outer leaves. Put the whole cabbage into a large pot of boiling salted water. As the leaves soften, carefully peel them off one by one. Continue until you have about 12–16 good leaves.
- Cook the rice: Boil the rice until only partly cooked—about 7–8 minutes. Drain and let it cool.
- Make the filling: Mix the ground meat, rice, onion, garlic, egg, salt, pepper, paprika and marjoram.
- Roll the cabbage: Cut away the thick central vein from each leaf. Put 2–3 tablespoons of filling near the bottom of the leaf, fold the sides inward and roll tightly.
- Make the sauce: Mix tomatoes, stock, tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Bake: Put some sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish. Arrange the cabbage rolls tightly together, seam-side down. Pour the remaining sauce over them.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake at 180°C for about 1½–2 hours.
- Remove the foil during the last 15–20 minutes so the top can brown slightly.
Tip: They taste even better the next day. Traditionally, gołąbki are served with extra tomato sauce and sometimes sour cream or mashed potatoes.