Golabki Golubsty Krautwickel Toltott Kaposzta Sarma - Slow Food Saturday

Balandėliai, Golabki, Golubsty, Kaalikaaryleet, Kaldomar,  Kohlraden, Krautwickel, Toltott Kaposzta, Sarma, or my own Red Cabbage Rolls on another Slow Food Saturday. And of course, go to Wikipedia if you want to see even more names for cabbage rolls.

Fascinating how so many European countries have their own version of cabbage rolls - some use pork & veal mince, some just pork mince, others beef mince & some quite an amazing combination of meats. Some add breadcrumbs, others cooked rice or risoni pasta. Some use passata, others tomato puree, tomato juice, canned tomatoes, tomato soup, even fresh tomatoes or no tomato at all.

Cabbage can be overlooked compared with its cousins Asian bok choy & Italian cavolo nero - but it is just so good for slow food.

In fact when I checked my cooking library & the web, including Wikipedia, I found so much diversity in styles. 

I loved the look of the Polish Golabki and the Italian Pork & Tomato Cabbage Rolls on www.Taste.com

My really lovely book of German Cooking from Hahndorf which I brought back from a trip to Australia's Barossa Valley has Krautwickel. I found another version of Krautwickel in an old Country Style magazine. I had been surprised to discover that Krautwickel does not contain tomatoes in the sauce.

Many are distinctly tomato-ey - although the "Family Circle Microwave Cookbook" is more sauerkraut & less tomato. These seem similar to the Austrian Kohlraden

The Hungarian Toltott Kaposzta on the SBS site features sauerkraut - again no tomatoes - although the Hungarian cabbage rolls in the AWW "Great Cooking Classics" has some tomatoes in a chicken stock base - plus celery in the pork mince mixture. I really want to try out the Croatian Sarma with its fascinating range of meats - also from SBS's foodie site - but I need to save that for a really really slow Saturday. The Slovenian style Sarma at Recipezaar looks a little less daunting to be honest.

AWW's "New Casserole Cookbook" version has a more Moroccan feel - like the one on their web page - whilst their "Country Cooking" features an Italian style with prosciutto, parmesan, white wine & risoni pasta. Then there's another Italian one on www.Taste.com with chargrilled capsicum & basil leaves. Not to mention an "Italian American twist on an Eastern European classic" at About.com:AmericanFood. And an Amish Pennsylvania Dutch cabbage roll recipe which features a can of tomato soup - although another Amish style uses canned tomatoes. Julie Stafford's Cabbage Rolls in her "Taste of Life from the Microwave" are also Moroccan-like.

I've even seen a Greek one somewhere ... found after a search of my cooking library bookshelves ... Lahanodolmades in Tess Mallos' "Greek Cookbook" aka Yemisto Me Lahano in her "Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook", and Lahanodolmades also in Sarah Maxwell's "Meze Cooking" - all are similar to dolmades made with vine leaves - but minus the currants & pine nuts - and simmered/steamed rather than baked like many cabbage roll recipes. Angeline Kapsaskis in "The Commonsense Greek Cookery Book" uses tomatoes in the mince mixture & simmers them in water - then served with a Saltsa Avgolemono style sauce - but with milk added - ie  combination of Hollandaise/Bechamel style sauce with lemon juice.

Turkish cabbage rolls are known as Lahana Sarma with tomatoes in the mince again and not in the sauce

I discovered a whole blog devoted to cabbage rolls recipes ... featuring 22 different recipes so far ... including Slavic Cabbage Rolls.

Then there are the Golubsty in the beautiful "The Delights of Russian Cuisine" that I discovered at a Russian restaurant at the Brisbane Expo, where my significant other, David, had been attending a Fujitsu IT conference on the Expo site. Golubsty is tomato-ey, and with carrots in the tomato sauce. Then there's the Lithuanian "Balandėliai" with green capsicum (bell pepper) but without the carrot. The Swedish Kaldomar on Recipezaar have cream & milk in the filling - but without tomatoes in filling or sauce - the Danes also have Kaldomar whilst the Finnish call their Kaldomar Kaalikaaryleet. Wikipedia mentions that Swedish Vine/Cabbage Rolls were first mentioned in 1755 when Anna Christina Warg (aka Cajsa Warg) "published was to be a very long-lived classic of the kitchen: Hjelpreda I Hushållningen För Unga Fruentimber ("Assistant in Housekeeping for Young Women")"

And the final word ... from Claudia Roden in her "A Book of Middle Eastern Food" - suggesting cabbage rolls "should be very easy to make in England, and a welcome change from the usual boiled cabbage"... she covers cabbage rolls with and without tomato sauce.

Anyway I decided to do an improv - I had run out of green Savoy cabbage leaves - so decided to try the red cabbage I had in the fridge - but I had never seen red cabbage rolls anywhere before to be honest. And whilst it started out as one of those "take a can of soup" style - it certainly diverged - and I would certainly go for passata or sugo if I couldn't get Heinz Big Red Spicy Tomato.  Normally I avoid this approach - however Cabbage Rolls being one of my exceptions to this bias. My significant other, David, even queried had I decided to do the cabbage rolls specially with the red cabbage.

I wondered what colour the dish would end up given the combination of tomato & red cabbage. It emerged to be a deep rich colour - almost identical to the colour of the Pokerface 2008 Cabernet Merlot we had with dinner.

 

 

Method (serves 6-8)

• 6-12 large cabbage leaves - red or green - depending on preference - steamed for about 5 minutes then cooled - need to be tender enough to roll but not too soft either
• 500 gm pork & veal mince
• 1 rasher of bacon chopped - optional
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 6 spring onions sliced finely
• 1 445 can tomato soup - Heinz "Big Red Spicy Tomato" is best - but will need to add water during cooking to prevent dryout & burning - alternatively add 1 can passata/sugo with 4 tbspns tomato paste if Spicy Tomato is not available
• 1 tbspn lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• few grinds of black pepper
• shake each of sweet paprika, marjoram, caraway seeds & dried parsley
• toothpicks
• water - if needed during the baking to prevent dryout
• dill

1. Combine all ingredients except cabbage leaves, lemon juice, bay leaf, dill  & tomato soup - mix well - I use my hands to get it all mixed up nicely.
2. Take 1/3 cupful's or amount to fit neatly into each cabbage leaf when rolled up - roll up - secure with toothpick(s)
3. Place the smaller cooked unused cabbage leaves in base of greased casserole dish
4. Pack cabbage rolls in layers on top of cabbage leaves- place any unused cooked leaves on top
5. Add tomato soup (or passata/sugo with the tomato paste)  to top carefully & then sprinkle in lemon juice
6. Cover & place in oven set at 180oC - cook for 1 - 1/2 hours
7. After first 20-30 minutes - check to see if too dry - add the water if necessary - spoon sauce over cabbage rolls
8. Repeat after 60 minutes.
9. Can be served sprinkled with dill & crusty bread - we had Ciabatta.

And lots of leftovers for those frantic after work dinners next week - will probably need to add 1/2 tbpsn of water or so during the reheating as the cabbage rolls do absorb the moisture with time in the fridge.

 

Years ago my sister Julie Lock Lee shared with me this recipe for microwaved German Cabbage Rolls - it has long been one my other fav cabbage roll recipes.

German Cabbage Rolls - from Julie Lock Lee

1. Place intact 8 big cabbage leaves in a large baking dish - add 1/2 cup water
2. Microwave on full power for 4-5 minutes then drain & cool & pat dry
3. Combine & mix together well : 500 gm mince, 1 cup rice,  small chopped onion, 1 beaten egg, 1/4 cup tomato puree, 1 tbspn lemon juice, 1 tbspn chopped parsley, salt & pepper
4. Shape into 8 rolls
5. Place rolls on base of each cabbage leaf, fold sides of leaf over filling & roll up
6. Place rolls seam side down in a large oblong baking dish - pregreased of course
7. Combine 440 gm can sauerkraut (undrained), 440 gm can tomato puree, 2 tbspns brown sugar, 1 thinly sliced carrot & 2-3 tbspns lemon juice.
8. Pour sauce over rolls & cover the baking dish
9. Microwave covered on Medium-High for 30 minutes - note this was for a 600-650 Watt Microwave so caution should be used with this time for more modern higher watt microwave ovens
10. Remove dish from Microwave oven & stand for 5-8 minutes before serving.

Serves 6

 

A further Google search revealed only a cery few examples of red cabbage rolls - Golabki style - although it would appear to be possibly an improv like mine.

Perhaps I might just keep on using the red cabbage leaves in future.