Cabbage Rolls (Polish Meat Roulades)

A classic Polish dish—tender cabbage leaves wrapped around juicy ground meat filling with rice and spices. Tomato sauce makes them aromatic and appetizing. An ideal choice for a family dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 pcs Cabbage
• 30 g Butter
• 1 pcs Onion
• 454 g Beef mince
• 227 g Pork mince
• 1.5 cup Rice
• 1 tsp Garlic
• 1 tsp Salt
• 0.25 tsp Black ground pepper
• 3 tbsp Tomato paste

Instructions

1. In a large pot, bring lightly salted water to a boil. Submerge the whole cabbage head, cover with a lid, and simmer for 3 minutes until the leaves soften and easily separate from the head. Remove the cabbage and let it cool for approximately 10 minutes.
2. Carefully peel 18 whole leaves from the head, trimming the thick central ribs. Set them aside. Finely chop the remaining cabbage and spread it on the bottom of a pot or baking dish.
3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and sauté, stirring, for 5–10 minutes until soft and translucent. Let cool.
4. In a large bowl, combine the cooled onion, beef mince, pork mince, rice, garlic, salt, and black pepper until uniform.
5. Preheat the oven to 175 °C.
6. Place approximately 120 ml of meat filling on each cabbage leaf. Roll the leaf tightly into a roulette, tucking the side edges to form an envelope. Repeat with the remaining leaves and filling. Carefully arrange the cabbage rolls in a single layer on top of the chopped cabbage in the dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
7. In a bowl, mix tomato paste with water (approximately 400 ml) to make tomato sauce. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls and cover the dish with foil.
8. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for approximately 1 hour until the cabbage is completely softened and the meat is cooked through. If desired, remove the foil in the last 10 minutes for light caramelization of the top layer.