Stuffed Cabbage

Stuffed cabbage was a big meal in my family when I was a kid.  My mom learned to make it from her mom and kept up the tradition by making it for us.  I wasn't the biggest cabbage fan when I was younger, so my mom often made meatballs with the tomato sauce for my siblings and myself.  I always remember having it with mashed potatoes on the side, and so I upgraded these to Greek Yogurt Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

I spotted cabbage at the local market for a great price, and ended up with red cabbage since it was the same cost and has was more vitamins.  I've always heard that the more colorful a vegetable, the better it is for you!

For the recipe, I used this as my reference.  I added 1/2 cup of cabbage water to sauce, and used ground turkey instead of beef.

Though the original recipe didn't call for it, I boiled the cabbage for 20 minutes to soften it.




In a separate pan, I cooked the rice until it was tender.  I made the meat filling by adding the ground turkey with rice, chopped onion, garlic, salt, and pepper together and mixing it until combined.  I took one of the cabbage leaves and placed some if the meat filling at the base.  I then folded in the sides of the leaves, wrapping it around the ground turkey, and rolled it up.



I placed the cabbage rolls on a casserole dish.



To make the sauce, I cooked some grated fresh onion and minced garlic together for a few minutes.



I then added the tomato sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.



I spread the tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls to cover them.



I then let the stuffed cabbage bake for 45 minutes, until the meat was cooked throughout.



I served them up with some mashed sweet potatoes.



These were so good, and very much like the ones my mom made growing up.  The sauce was slightly sweet but quite savory, and I felt good about dinner with the red cabbage, ground turkey, and sweet potatoes involved.  I had some of the meat mixture leftover, and used the remaining meat to make meatballs, which were also quite good.  My only thought for next time is tossing in some more sauce. This is a great basic recipe for such a tasty dinner!

Stuffed Cabbage Recipe

For the cabbage rolls:
1 head cabbage
1 pound ground turkey
1 medium onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup uncooked white rice

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 onion
1 can tomato sauce(8 ounces)
1/2 cup water drained from cabbage
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions:

Boil cabbage leaves for 20-30 minutes, until softened, then allow to cool.  Cook white rice until soft.  Chop 1/2 of an onion info small pieces, then mince or grate the rest.  Combine the ground turkey with rice, chopped onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Place a small amount of the meat filling by the base of a cabbage leaf.  Roll up the cabbage by folding in both sides over the filling, then rolling to the end of the cabbage leaf.  Set cabbage rolls on a baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add minced onion and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of the water the cabbage cooked in, lemon juice, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir, then simmer for 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover cabbage rolls with tomato sauce. Cook for 45 minutes.