Holubtsi (Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls)
Holubtsi (Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls)
Pork, rice, onions and herbs rolled in Savoy cabbage leaves and poached in tomato juice.
I vacuum sealed them individually for the freezer.
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Ukrainian here: Whoever told you this had never been to Ukrainian Christmas dinner. Our cabbage rolls are not covered in tomato sauce. They aren't supposed to be huge either, you're supposed to be able to finish them in 1-2 bites comfortably. You don't make 6 big ass cabbage rolls. You make a pot of 100 little ones.
You'll get cussed out by someone's elderly grandma if you bring these to the family dinner.
Many of these recipes come from Ukrainian immigrants in North America. The size of the cabbage rolls also vary from region to region.
My mother has a similar recipe to this that was passed down from my great grandmother, that she got from her Ukrainian neighbors in Saskatchewan in the 1920s.
I had a coworker who was second generation Ukrainian-Canadian who has almost the exact same recipe.
These types of cabbage rolls are hard to find because nobody wants to poach them in tomato juice for 6 hours, and the result is tough chewy cabbage. Can't buy them, can't find them in any restaurant.
Hehehe. Baba is going to be angry?
I like the extra tomato sauce to keep them moist when I reheat them. I'm too fucking lazy to make 100 little ones. I'm Scottish, sorry for the abuse of your national dish!
No these look accurate. My mom adds extra tomato juice and cooks them low and slow until the cabbage melts in your mouth and the edges of the pan turn black.
The big issue I have with most cabbage rolls is they put too much emphasis on the filling. The filling doesn't matter, the spices don't matter. It's all about the cabbage. Towards the end of the batch I usually end up scooping out the filling and just eating the cabbage leaves and leftover tomato.
The cabbage is where all the flavour is. I love the cabbage.