Everyone will definitely like tasty and juicy cabbage rolls with meat, and you don’t have to make them yourself, you can buy ready-made frozen semi-finished products in the store and boil them at home, so in this article we’ll look at how long and how to cook cabbage rolls with meat in a saucepan so that they turned out delicious, juicy and flavorful.
The cooking time of cabbage rolls in a saucepan depends on the size and type (only made or frozen), so let's take a closer look at how much cabbage rolls are boiled in a saucepan:
Having learned how much to cook cabbage rolls with meat in a saucepan, we will further consider the process of their preparation step by step in order to know how to cook them properly in a saucepan at home.
The most common and easiest way to cook cabbage rolls with meat is to cook them in a saucepan (it is better to give preference to a saucepan with a thick bottom or a cast iron). Consider step by step how to cook cabbage rolls in a saucepan.
Note: so that the cabbage on the cabbage rolls does not burst in the bottom layer, several whole cabbage leaves can be placed on the bottom of the pan before cooking.
They cook in different countries, and it is still unknown who invented this tasty and original dish. The tradition of wrapping meat in cabbage leaves is said to have originated in ancient Greece. In Asian and Oriental cuisine, dolma is prepared - meat wrapped in grape leaves, in Ukraine corn grits, buckwheat and pork cracklings are added to cabbage rolls, and beet leaves are used instead of cabbage. Sauerkraut stuffed with rice and mushroom stuffing is popular in Transcarpathia, while in Belarus they are cooked with pearl barley and mashed potatoes. And now there are many recipes - they are stuffed not only with meat and cereals, but also with fish, vegetables, dried fruits with fragrant herbs and spices, served with different sauces. This dish is loved by both adults and children. Let's talk about how to properly cook cabbage rolls so that they turn out tasty, beautiful and appetizing.
For usually choose strong cabbage, without spots and cracks. Try to buy slightly flattened heads, as they have more thin leaves than thick and rough, located closer to the stalk. You should also prefer the more tender green cabbage, the leaves of which bend easily and do not break, since the white varieties are tougher, rougher and more fibrous. Of course, delicious cabbage rolls are also obtained from white cabbage, but you will spend much more time and effort on their preparation.
So, we cook cabbage rolls step by step. Cut out a part of the base with a stump, capturing the roughest leaves. Next, lower the head of cabbage into boiling water and leave for a few minutes until the leaves begin to separate easily. Some housewives add a little vinegar to the water, which makes the cabbage softer and protects against cracks and breaks. We take out the head of cabbage from the pan, carefully separate the leaves and return the cabbage back. We do this until one stump remains. It is enough to dip young cabbage into boiling water so that the leaves separate from the head. Cabbage can also be heated in the microwave and in the oven in foil, however, the upper leaves will brown a little, and the cabbage will acquire a characteristic aroma.
You can do the opposite - first separate the cabbage leaves, then boil them. After the cabbage has cooled, the leaves in the most compacted protruding places are slightly beaten off with a hammer so that they become softer and more elastic, or we level them with a special roller with spikes for meat. Busy housewives, who have no time to boil and beat cabbage leaves, do it easier. After the stalk is cut out, they put the head of cabbage in the freezer for a couple of days, and then defrost it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. The effect is exactly the same as after boiling - cabbage leaves become soft and do not tear.
The classic filling consists of minced beef, pork or lamb and rice. The perfect combination is beef with pork, pork with chicken or turkey. Boil a glass of cereal in salted water in a ratio of 1: 2, but the rice should be slightly undercooked. We mix it with raw minced meat, two finely chopped onions and simple seasonings - salt and pepper. Minced meat can be anything, but with turkey the dish turns out to be dietary, and with chicken it is more tender and tastier, especially if the minced meat is pre-fried with vegetables in oil. Instead of rice, you can take buckwheat or any other cereal, supplementing the filling with fried mushrooms - mushrooms, mushrooms or champignons. For the lean version, the meat is completely replaced with mushrooms. You can add fragrant spices that you like to the filling - black pepper, nutmeg, curry, ginger - whatever you like. Calculations for cabbage rolls are simple - for 1 kg of cabbage we take 500 g of meat, 100 g of rice and 100 g of onion, although the proportions also depend on the recipe.
We put 2-3 tbsp on cabbage leaves. l. fillings, cover it with a thick part of the sheet, wrap the side parts and roll up a neat roll. Maybe you like to wrap cabbage rolls with a tube, an envelope or a bag, but it's best if the filling is completely closed. We place the cabbage rolls in a deep thick-walled dish, pour in a little water, broth, white wine or tomato juice, and then simmer. 15-20 minutes before the cabbage rolls are ready, pour the sauce over and continue to simmer.
Some housewives pre-line the bottom of the dishes with cabbage or grape leaves, and also make a vegetable pillow from fried carrots, onions, sweet peppers and other vegetables. After that, we lay a layer of cabbage rolls, fill them with gravy and simmer for about an hour on minimal heat. There is another way to cook cabbage rolls - first they are fried, and then stewed with water and sour cream for 1-2 hours. Cabbage rolls can also be cooked in a slow cooker, convection oven and steamed, but it is best to bake them in the oven in a creamy sauce with a piece of butter - this way they turn out to be especially fragrant and tender.
The simplest sauce is fried carrots with onions, tomato paste or sour cream. Very satisfying options are sour cream with garlic, cream with thick yogurt, mayonnaise with chopped pickles, onions and lemon juice. Low-calorie sauce - kefir with greens - is good for those who are on a diet. The oriental style sauce is a blend of sesame oil, soy sauce, fresh ginger, garlic, red pepper and cilantro. Sweet chili sauce is very tasty, which lovers of sweet and spicy seasonings will appreciate. In general, any ingredients can be added to the sauce depending on the tastes and preferences of the guests - these can be tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, pumpkin and any vegetables.
1. Prepare cabbage leaves.
2. Mix 500 g of minced lamb with ½ cup of boiled rice, 2 chopped onions, salt and a mixture of peppers.
3. For the sauce, coarsely grate 1 carrot, dice 1 onion and fry the vegetables in 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil.
4. When the vegetables turn golden, add 3 finely chopped tomatoes with previously removed skins, 100 ml of water and sour cream, 1 tbsp. l. tomato paste, dried herbs, sugar, salt, pepper to taste.
5. Wrap the stuffing in the cabbage leaves and dip them in the beaten egg.
6. Fry the cabbage rolls on both sides in butter.
7. Put the cabbage rolls in a bowl, add 2 bay leaves, pour over the prepared sauce and simmer for 40 minutes over low heat.
Many people like it - they are made from minced meat, rice and chopped raw cabbage. They are stewed and baked using the same technology, but much faster. Cabbage rolls are served with herbs and sour cream. Usually this dish is eaten very quickly, there is not enough supplement for everyone, so cook a little more - it will not be lost. We wish you bon appetit and culinary inspiration!
Cabbage rolls are considered a traditional Ukrainian dish, although their counterparts can be found in almost any national cuisine. There is historical evidence that proves that cabbage leaves were used as a "wrapper" for minced meat as far back as ancient Greece. Since then, the recipe has not changed much: it is still the same white cabbage, the same minced meat and the same stewing technology.
Today you can find a lot of options for cooking cabbage rolls - using Savoy and Beijing cabbage, with mushrooms and buckwheat, in the oven and with preliminary frying in a pan. To go to the "advanced" level and allow yourself culinary experiments, you should figure out how to cook cabbage rolls in the classic version. And the classic version is cabbage rolls with meat and rice in cabbage.
On this page you will read about:
To facilitate understanding - a recipe for cabbage rolls step by step with a photo.
To prepare cabbage rolls you will need:
Choice of cabbage for cabbage rolls- the task is not the easiest. The head of cabbage should be dense, but not hard, otherwise you will not be able to separate the leaves from each other. The size is medium, from a small head you will get the minimum number of cabbage rolls, large heads of cabbage are also not suitable, you can wind cabbage rolls the size of a sole from them.
At bazaars in the vegetable rows, cabbage leaves are sometimes sold by weight - just suitable for making cabbage rolls from them. Very comfortably. Alas, such a miracle does not occur so often, so there is only one way out: to decide on suitable heads of cabbage and work with what is.
So, we choose cabbage, my head of cabbage, remove the upper hard leaves.
Boil water in a large saucepan. We prick a head of cabbage with a large fork and lower it into boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Choose the time yourself - the top sheets should become soft, but in no case should they spread apart.
We take the head out of the water and remove a few top leaves. As soon as you feel that the leaves do not "go" freely, stop, otherwise you will simply tear them.
If necessary, cut off thick places that are located at the base of the cabbage leaf.
We repeat the procedure for the next layer of leaves and the next head of cabbage - we do this until we manage to remove even medium-sized leaves.
Meat for cabbage rolls mine, cut off excess fat, films.
We twist in a meat grinder. To save time, you can buy ready-made minced meat if you practice cooking homemade dishes from store-bought semi-finished products.
Boil rice until half cooked. If you take fully cooked rice, after stewing it will turn into a porridge-like mass. Raw rice will “take away” the maximum juice from the meat, as a result of which it will become dry and tough.
Put the rice into the bowl with the minced meat.
It should be understood that the amount of “1 cup” indicated in the list of ingredients for the preparation of cabbage rolls is rather arbitrary. Rice can be taken a little more or a little less, depending on what stuffing in cabbage rolls you like. With these proportions, there will be more cereals and carrots with onions than meat, and the dish will turn out to be more vegetable than meat. If you prefer a more solid, "brutal" version of cabbage rolls, you can reduce the amount of rice or increase the amount of minced meat.
We clean the carrots, rub on a grater.
Carrots add juiciness to stuffed cabbage, so do not reduce its amount. However, it will provide some sweetness to the filling - if this taste note seems superfluous to you, take less carrots.
Peel the onion, cut into small cubes.
Half rings or even rings are also quite appropriate. The main thing is that the appearance of the filling does not violate your aesthetic perception of food.
Pour a small amount of vegetable oil into a heated frying pan. fry carrot until soft.
Put it in a bowl with minced meat and rice.
In the same pan, fry the onion in oil.- to a slight translucency and softness.
Put in a bowl, do not forget about salt and pepper.
Mix well minced meat for cabbage rolls, consisting of minced meat, rice, carrots and onions. You can also add some fresh herbs, your favorite dry herbs, appropriate seasonings and spices to it.
We place the boiled and prepared leaf of cabbage with the base towards us, put a small amount of minced meat inside.
We turn it into a tube, hide the edges inward.
Ready. Beautiful?
Put the stuffed cabbage in a large saucepan with a thick bottom, trying to place them as tightly as possible. Another rule is to put them seam down.
We dilute the tomato paste in 2-3 glasses of water, pour the cabbage rolls. Water should not reach the top layer of cabbage rolls by about 2 fingers. In addition, you can add a little ketchup, plum jam, sour cream or unsweetened yogurt to the same sauce. Some housewives stew cabbage rolls, shifting them in a pan with carrot-onion roast.
We put on the stove, bring to a boil and, reducing the heat to a minimum, simmer for at least 45-60 minutes. As a result, the cabbage should become completely soft, the filling should be ready.
Serve with sour cream or any sauce based on it. Bon appetit!
Cabbage rolls may well become a work of art if you approach their preparation with a soul. When mixing products for minced meat, try to put maximum diligence into this simple process - and, oddly enough, then the filling will be especially tasty. When rolling cabbage, make sure that everything is even and neat - and then the appearance will bring special visual satisfaction, which will directly enhance the pleasure received from the cabbage rolls themselves. Serve food on beautiful dishes - and the simplest dish will become festive.
By the way, in the western regions of Ukraine, with the help of this simple dish, they still check the girl’s readiness for family life: it is believed that if a young woman cannot make little finger-sized duckies, if she cannot quickly cook a huge tub with meat wrapped in cabbage leaves minced meat, if her cabbage rolls unfold in the process of stewing or, even worse, fall apart, she will not see a good groom like snowdrops in January. Cook with pleasure, and may your cabbage rolls always be perfectly tasty!
There are many recipes for preparing full-fledged dishes, such where you do not need to make a separate side dish and meat component. Today we will share the secrets of how to stew cabbage rolls. Using our recommendations, you can cook delicious food for the whole family or for a holiday. Stuffed cabbage will not fall apart, the cabbage will become soft, and in taste they will be able to compete with restaurant dishes.
Not every hostess can cope with the preparation of such a dish as cabbage rolls. Someone complains that the cabbage opens up during stewing, others cannot achieve the softness of the vegetable. We suggest you learn how to stew cabbage rolls in a saucepan correctly, and the result will definitely please you! The process, of course, is not fast, but everything is not so difficult. A little patience, skill, and dinner is ready!
Ingredients:
You can also use seasonings, with them the cabbage rolls will come out even more tasty and fragrant. We recommend taking not spicy spices, but universal ones, suitable for any dishes.
Cooking method:
After closing the lid, simmer the cabbage rolls over low heat for 40 minutes after boiling - this is the optimal cooking time at which the minced meat is cooked and the cabbage becomes soft, but does not fall apart.
Although the slow cooker is considered a pan for the lazy, it is not much easier to cook cabbage rolls in it than in a regular one or in a frying pan. Consider the recipe.
You will need the following products:
Since we are cooking in a slow cooker, we will not add vegetable frying, but will make a quick sauce. It can be cooked in a regular pan, the process will be simpler and faster.
Cooking steps:
In a slow cooker, cabbage rolls cook faster than in a saucepan, but cabbage is no less soft.
Let's cook cabbage rolls in a cauldron. If you do not have such dishes, then take a pan with thick and high walls.
Components:
Cooking:
It also takes about 40 minutes to simmer in a cauldron, as in a saucepan.
Every housewife will cope with such a dish, it is prepared very simply. "Lazy cabbage rolls" consist of the same ingredients as regular cabbage rolls, but the taste varies greatly. It turns out incredibly tasty stewed cutlets, everyone will like them!
Components:
Cooking:
The same cabbage rolls can be cooked both in a cauldron and in a frying pan, but they need to be laid out only in one layer. Therefore, it is easier to take a baking sheet, and in the oven the dish comes out especially tasty. You can also make a side dish for “lazy cabbage rolls”, mashed potatoes are better.
Ingredients:
Cooking:
Cooking stuffed cabbage is very simple, if you try to go through all the steps once on your own. Use semi-finished products only in emergency cases, when there really is no time or energy to cook, because homemade cabbage rolls are tastier. Thanks to the prescribed recipes, you are sure to cook a wonderful dish, it will become a favorite in your family. Cabbage rolls can be safely served on the festive table. Bon appetit!
For cabbage rolls, it is best to choose dense, even heads of medium size.
Slightly flattened cabbage works best. It is in such heads of cabbage that the thin surface of the leaf is much larger in area than the coarse part with a thick petiole.
The density of the leaves is very important: cabbage with a greenish tint is best. Almost white heads with thick leaves will take longer to cook and can be tough and stringy in the finished dish.
Leaf preparation. With a sharp knife we cut out the stalk, trying to capture most of the coarse thick petioles. Then dip the head of cabbage into boiling water to which a small amount of vinegar has been added. The acid will preserve the natural structure of the cabbage leaf and protect it from tearing.
Boil the cabbage for a few minutes, until the top leaves become translucent and begin to separate from the head.
Carefully remove the head of cabbage from boiling water and, trying not to burn yourself, separate the top boiled leaves. If necessary, return the cabbage to boiling water and repeat the whole process with the remaining leaves.
Cool the prepared cabbage leaves, and, if necessary, cut off the protruding thick parts of the petioles.
Traditionally, cabbage rolls are rolled so that the filling is covered with a cabbage leaf on all sides.
Spread the prepared cabbage leaf on the board in front of you. Closer to the base of the sheet, lay out two to three tablespoons of the filling in the form of an oblong sausage half the width of the sheet.
Cover the stuffing with the base of the leaf, then fold over the sides of the leaf, then roll the stuffed cabbage away from you, twisting it into the remaining long part of the cabbage leaf.
Do you like spicier and more aromatic dishes? Try to cook cabbage rolls according to this recipe. Over the years, it is difficult for me to remember how it appeared in our family, but if you believe various stories, then my great-grandmother and all my aunts cooked it.
1. We prepare cabbage leaves.
2. We prepare the sauce in which we will stew cabbage rolls:
Finely chop the onion, grate one carrot on a coarse grater. In a skillet, heat 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil, add onions and carrots and fry until golden brown. When the vegetables are ready, add 300 gr. finely chopped tomatoes (you can take canned), 100 ml. water, 5 tablespoons of sour cream, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of dried dill, salt, sugar, black and red pepper to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon of each type). Mix everything, bring to a boil and cook covered over medium heat for 10 minutes.
3. Set aside and start filling:
500 gr. minced meat (it is best to take a mixture of beef and pork), add half a glass of rice to it (pre-fill the rice with boiling water and let stand for 10-15 minutes), two finely chopped onions, salt, black and red pepper to taste.
4. Wrap the filling in cabbage leaves, forming cabbage rolls, dip the cabbage rolls in the egg mixture (two eggs + 2 tablespoons of water), lightly beaten with a fork.
5. Fry in butter for three minutes on each side.
6. Transfer the cabbage rolls to a wide saucepan, add two bay leaves to them, pour over the sauce and simmer under the lid over low heat for 35 - 40 minutes.
Stuffed cabbage rolls with chicken stuffing baked in the oven are very tasty. This is my variation on the theme of family recipes.
Once in Italy, I had a chance to try a similar dish, and when I returned home, I restored the recipe “from memory”.
Preparing cabbage leaves. And we begin to work on the filling. Fry minced chicken with finely chopped onion and grated carrot until half cooked, add finely chopped bell pepper to them, salt and pepper to taste, cover with a lid and continue cooking for another five minutes. Let cool and form cabbage rolls.
Transfer the cabbage rolls to a greased baking dish, pour over the 100 ml sauce. cream and 3 tbsp. spoons of thick yogurt or sour cream. Bake in a preheated oven at 180⁰ for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley before serving.
When baking in the oven, place a few pieces of butter on top of the cabbage rolls. a - the dish will be much tastier, Scandinavian housewives advise.
To stew cabbage rolls, instead of water, you can take vegetable, meat or chicken broth, dry white wine and even tomato juice.
With these secrets, your cabbage rolls will be the most delicious and fragrant. Bon appetit!
Gastronomic observer, partner and adviser of the Guild of Chefs of Belarus, member of the Association of Restaurant and Gastronomic Observers of Russia.
Host of the gastronomic column in the program "Family Radio" on the first national radio channel.
Hobbies: photography, travelling, vintage cookbooks, antiques, British and American television series from the 60s and 90s, US culinary history.