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Holubtsi Cabbage Rolls

Name: Holubtsi Cabbage Rolls
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 135 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: 1500 g White cabbage; 300 g Coarsely minced beef; 300 g Minced pork; 180 g Short-grain rice; 250 g Onion; 200 g Carrot; 3 cloves Garlic cloves; 500 ml Tomato passata; 200 g Sour cream, to serve; 50 ml Sunflower oil; 500 ml Water; 2 leaves Bay leaves; 14 g Fine sea salt; 3 g Ground black pepper; 20 g Fresh dill

Cabbage leaves softened in boiling water, rolled around pork, beef and rice, and baked slowly under tomato and sour cream until the leaves go silky.

Prep: 45 min
Cook: 90 min
Difficulty: Intermediate

About this dish

The name comes from the word for little doves, which is what a tray of them is said to look like, and every family holds that its own version is the correct one — smaller, larger, with buckwheat, with mushrooms, with sauerkraut leaves in winter. What none of them argue about is the time. Holubtsi are a ninety-minute dish because the cabbage leaf has to pass through toughness into something silky, and there is no shortcut through the middle of that.

Gluten-free
Not vegetarian because of Coarsely minced beef, Minced pork
Contains dairy because of Sour cream, to serve

Ingredients

4servings

1500gWhite cabbage
300gCoarsely minced beef
300gMinced pork
180gShort-grain rice
250gOnion
200gCarrot
3clovesGarlic cloves
500mlTomato passata
200gSour cream, to serve
50mlSunflower oil
500mlWater
2leavesBay leaves
14gFine sea salt
3gGround black pepper
20gFresh dill

Instructions

Core the cabbage, lower the whole head into boiling salted water and peel off leaves as they soften, about 15 minutes in all.
15 min
Tip: Work with the whole head rather than separating leaves first. Raw leaves tear at the spine; softened ones come away in one piece, which is the difference between a roll and a repair job.
Boil the rice for 12 minutes only, drain and cool.
12 min
Tip: Half-cooked again. Ninety minutes under a lid will finish it, and rice that starts fully cooked ends the day as paste.
Fry the chopped onion and grated carrot in the oil for 8 minutes and let them cool, keeping a third back for the sauce.
8 min
Tip: Holding a third back is worth the extra bowl: sweet fried onion in the sauce is what stops the tomato from tasting thin next to a rich filling.
Mix the minces with the rice, two thirds of the vegetables, the garlic, salt and pepper, then shave down the thick rib of each leaf and roll a spoonful up, tucking in the sides.
15 min
Tip: Shaving the rib flat is the step people skip and then wonder why their rolls will not sit closed. Do not overfill — the rice still has to swell.
Pack the rolls seam down in a deep dish, pour over the passata mixed with the water and the reserved vegetables, add the bay, cover and cook 90 minutes; finish with sour cream and dill.
90 min
Tip: Pack them tight against each other. A roll with space around it unwinds; a tray packed closely holds itself together for the whole hour and a half.