Numerous dishes united by the name “Stuffed cabbage rolls” are a variety of minced meat stewed in cabbage leaves. Now I will show you how to quickly and efficiently prepare this base for your fantasy on the theme of cabbage rolls.

So!
Take a fairly large head of cabbage. In this case, the head of cabbage is not too large, medium.

Separate outer dirty leaves

Cut the stalk flush with the head of cabbage

We firmly drive the fork into the stalk - there it will remain until the end of the process. With its help, we will twist and turn our head of cabbage as we please, without fear of scalding ourselves.

Take a large saucepan

Place the cabbage in a saucepan, add 1-2 tablespoons of salt and fill with cold water so that the cabbage is covered. The cabbage is placed immediately for “trying on”, so as not to waste extra time boiling excess water.

Remove the cabbage and bring the water in the pan to a boil.
While the water is boiling, make a deep circular cut around the stalk

Place cabbage in boiling water

And, with the help of two more forks, as it is ready (i.e. softened and acquired elasticity), we begin to remove leaf by leaf from the cabbage.

Due to the fact that the leaves are already pre-cut from the stalk, the cabbage practically “disassembles itself”

True, in the end, you have to trim the leaves slightly

It takes from 30 seconds to 1 minute for each next sheet to be ready to separate. We use this time to our advantage - we beat off the thick stems of leaves

In the end, what remains of our cabbage is this pretty rose

There is a stalk and small leaves that are not suitable for goosebumps.
But don't throw them away! Half-cooked stalks and leaves make a delicious salad, which I will talk about in another review.

In the end, the experimental cabbage produced 20 leaves suitable for rolling cabbage rolls - for a small family for a week :-)
Bon appetit!

Which has many analogues in Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines. It consists of minced vegetables or meat with boiled rice or buckwheat, wrapped in soft cabbage leaves.

Currently, there are several varieties of this dish with different fillings.

Wrapping cabbage rolls is a rather labor-intensive process, so many cooks use a simpler option for preparing them.

General information about the dish

Traditional cabbage rolls are considered to be products made from minced meat wrapped in cabbage leaves. The process of preparing such a dish may take you several hours. This is due not only to the lengthy production of the filling, but also to the formation of the semi-finished products themselves.

Cooking features

As you know, cabbage is a multi-layered vegetable that is particularly tough and crunchy. If you crush the leaves of this product, they will break. Therefore, to prepare cabbage rolls, they must be subjected to heat treatment. Only in this case will the vegetable become softer and more pliable.

Processing options

Cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave is processed quite rarely. After all, many housewives are accustomed to doing this using a stove. However, this process is longer and more labor-intensive. Therefore, we decided to tell you how to prepare cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave.

Vegetable selection

Before that, you need to choose it correctly. Vegetables for such a dish should be taken in small sizes. The head of cabbage should not be covered with mold or other rot. The most suitable cabbage for cabbage rolls is a small, firm, light-colored cabbage. This vegetable will make your dish tender and very tasty.

How to process?

Few people know how to soften cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave. Before describing this simple process, we should tell you how the vegetable needs to be properly processed.

The head of cabbage is washed thoroughly in cool water. At the same time, all surface leaves that are unfit for consumption are removed from it. They may be affected by mold and rot. The main thing is that the thickness of the vegetable is clean and not affected by insects.

Method one. How to prepare cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave?

After the vegetable has been processed and peeled, it is placed on a flat plate intended for the microwave oven. In this case, the cabbage must be placed with the stalk down.

In this form, the product is sent to the microwave. At maximum power, the vegetable is cooked for about 10-11 minutes. During this time, the head of cabbage should become soft and hot. It is taken out and immediately washed under running cold water. As a result of simple manipulations, all the leaves are removed from the cabbage one by one. They should be as soft as possible and move away from the stalk almost on their own.

As you can see, cabbage for cabbage rolls cooks quite quickly in the microwave. The disadvantage of this method is that the upper layers of the leaves may become too soft and fall apart right in your hands.

Method two. How to cook cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave quickly?

In the event that you do not want to keep the vegetable in the microwave oven for too long so that it does not boil, we suggest using another method of preparing it. The cabbage is also washed and the surface leaves are removed. Next, it is placed on a plate and the product should remain for five to seven minutes (at maximum power).

After time has passed, it is removed and immediately washed with cold water. During this process, the top leaves, which have already softened slightly, are removed from the cabbage. This should be done until you reach tougher leaves.

Cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave is processed several times in this way. After separating the soft leaves, the head of cabbage is again sent to the microwave oven and kept for about three to four minutes.

Similar procedures are carried out until the entire vegetable is disassembled into leaves that are soft and suitable for cabbage rolls.

Method three

Cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave to soften can be processed in different ways. The two most popular methods were presented above. However, some housewives carry out this process using ordinary drinking water.

The vegetable is thoroughly washed, unnecessary elements in the form of surface leaves are cut off, and then placed in a deep plate designed for the microwave. Next, pour a little drinking water (about ½ cup) into the bowl. This method will help to obtain a more tender base for the meat dish.

Cabbage for cabbage rolls should be cooked in the microwave along with water for seven to eight minutes. In this case, the power of the microwave oven is set to the maximum value.

After time has passed, the vegetable, along with the tray of hot water, is carefully removed from the microwave and washed thoroughly, separating the leaves from the head of cabbage. If the leaves located closer to the stalk remain hard, then the product is kept for some time in the microwave oven.

Let's sum it up

As you can see, cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave to soften is prepared quite easily and quickly. This method will significantly save your time.

If you purchased a large vegetable to prepare a meat dish and it does not fit in the microwave oven, then we suggest using the traditional method, which involves using a stove. To do this, the processed and peeled head of cabbage is placed in a large saucepan or iron basin, which is half filled with plain water. In this form, place the vegetable on high heat and wait until the liquid boils. Turning the cabbage the other side down, cook it for about 3-4 minutes. After this, remove the pan from the stove and keep its contents under a closed lid for about ¼ hour. During this time, the entire thickness of the product must be thermally treated, all cabbage leaves will soften.

In the event that this process of preparing vegetables is labor-intensive and time-consuming for you, we suggest using not a white cabbage product, but a Beijing product. As you know, it has very soft and delicate oval-shaped leaves. Therefore, there is no point in treating them thermally. All you need to do is separate the leaves from the base, rinse them thoroughly in cool water and immediately use them to form homemade semi-finished products.

Cabbage for cabbage rolls, if you prepare it in the microwave, can be any kind - young and old, tight and not so tight. The only point is that I don’t recommend taking a head of cabbage that’s too large—it simply won’t fit in the microwave. And it’s quite rare to cook so many cabbage rolls, right? I usually take a head of cabbage weighing up to 1 kg, optimally 600 -700 g.

The stalk from a head of cabbage must be cut out - this is not difficult if you have a sharp knife.

Now puts the cabbage in a bag - a regular bag in which you put food. If you wish, you can also use a baking sleeve. We tie the bag (or sleeve), trying to let the air out of it.

And put the cabbage in this form in the microwave. The power is maximum, but the time... We will determine it over time. Cabbage weighs the same as mine - 600-700 grams, cooks for 5 minutes. If the cabbage is more than 1 kg, you will need 10-12 minutes. The exact time depends very much on your microwave and its maximum power. But having tried to cook cabbage for cabbage rolls this way once, the next time you will already know exactly how many minutes to turn on the microwave.

When the microwave finishes working, do not rush to open it, give the cabbage some more time - 5-7 minutes. And then we take it out of the package.

Well, now the leaves come off easily, so our task is completed.

The leaves are soft and whole - just what you need for cabbage rolls.

Clean the head of cabbage from unusable leaves - dry, torn, small. Using a sharp knife, make cuts in the area of ​​the stalk to a depth of 5-7 cm. Loosen it and cut it out.

Place a glass deep dish or bowl on the bottom of the microwave. If juice leaks from the cabbage, it is better if it does not leak onto the oven plate. Set the microwave to 80% power. Place the head of cabbage in the pan and bake for 8 minutes.

Remove the fork and cool slightly. Disassemble the cabbage into leaves. Cut off the hard veins, comparing them to the level of the leaf.

The leaves from the core will not be as well cooked as the top ones. Place them in a mold or bowl and microwave for another 2-3 minutes. Check the cabbage for doneness. The ideal leaf for cabbage rolls should be translucent and greener than raw. It should bend with little effort, but not break. You may need to cook the cabbage in the microwave for another minute. Slightly cooled leaves can be used to prepare cabbage rolls.

Stuffed cabbage rolls are a delicious Russian dish that consists of minced meat wrapped in cabbage leaves. When prepared, this food is quite soft and tender, but requires thorough preliminary preparation of the ingredients. The most labor-intensive step is preparing the sheets. The cook’s task is to make them elastic and flexible in order to avoid cracks in the fragile cabbage leaves and, as a result, spillage of the filling. We will consider the most common methods for preparing leaves for cabbage rolls in this article.

The process of preparing cabbage for making cabbage rolls begins with purchasing a good quality head of cabbage. Where you will make your purchases, in a supermarket or at the market, or maybe you will cut cabbage in your own garden bed - it doesn’t really matter. It is much more important what shape the vegetable has. A slightly flattened, medium-sized fruit weighing up to 2 kilograms is best suited. Remove the top leaves that are unsuitable for eating immediately. The fastest way to prepare cabbage leaves is using a microwave oven. Cut the stalk from the head of cabbage and make notches in the leaves around the resulting hole. This will make it easier to remove the leaves. Place the cabbage in the microwave and bake at the highest power for 10 minutes. Then place the cabbage under running cold water and tear off the soft leaves one by one. After removing several layers, you will notice that it becomes more and more difficult to “undress” the head of cabbage. Then repeat the heating procedure in the microwave. The disadvantage of this method is that when the entire head of cabbage is disassembled, the sheets still remain a little hard. But this problem can be easily fixed: stack the cabbage leaves one on top of the other and place in the microwave oven for 5 minutes. This way you will bring the cabbage roll wrapper to a completely soft and elastic state. A more traditional way to process cabbage is to boil it in water. Take a large saucepan, fill it with water, add salt and put on fire. While the broth is boiling, take a whole head of cabbage and make cuts around the perimeter of the stalk. Place the head of cabbage in boiling water for a few minutes; the vegetable should be completely immersed in water. As the head of cabbage sits in the hot broth, the leaves will gradually begin to separate from it. Using a fork, remove the “opened petals” from the water and place them in another bowl. When the whole head of cabbage is disassembled, throw away the stalk. Return the leaves to the broth and boil for a couple of minutes, then remove completely and cool. It is better not to pour out the broth, as it will make a delicious sauce for cabbage rolls. The next method takes the longest amount of time to prepare cabbage, but it requires minimal effort to process it. Take a head of cabbage (the top spoiled leaves have already been removed) and put it in the freezer for 12 hours. If you did this overnight, take the cabbage out in the morning and defrost at room temperature. The melted cabbage becomes soft and the leaves can be removed in a matter of minutes. The only drawback of this method of processing cabbage for cabbage rolls is that you need to use up the entire head of cabbage at once. After freezing/thawing, the leaves are not suitable for any use other than cabbage rolls, and they are also no longer suitable for storage.

In all the cases described above, you will need to cut off the thick veins with a knife, being careful not to touch the leaf itself with the tip and not tear it. If you doubt your dexterity and are afraid of not being able to control the knife, then take a hammer and tap the veins with light movements. This is necessary so that the sheet becomes thinner and more elastic, thereby better enveloping the filling.