Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Ground Beef (Etli Lahana Sarmasi)

1 head white cabbage
½ lb ground meat
1 big onion, chopped finely
1 cup rice, washed and drained
1 tomato, diced/1 cup crashed or diced tomato in a can
1 tsp tomato paste (optional)
1 tbsp salt to taste
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp black pepper
1-2 tbsp canola oil
1 ½ cup hot water
1-2 tbsp butter
½ lemon’s juice

Take out the outer leaves of cabbage. In a large pot place the cabbage and cover it with lightly salted water. Bring it to boil and turn the heat down to medium high. Boil it till the outer leaves start to loosen and get softer (2-3 minutes). Remove the soft leaves from the core and place them on a big plate or tray. Return the cabbage to the pot and repeat the first step until all leaves get soft and removed. Let the leaves cool for 8-10 minutes.Remove the center stalks from the leaves with a knife. Then cut the large leaves into three triangular parts and the smaller leaves into two equal parts (see the picture).If you like small rolls you can obtain about 50 pieces, but if you like bigger ones then there would be 30-35 pieces. I prefer making bigger rolls, so I cut the bigger leaves into 2 and use the small leaves without cutting.
Meanwhile, in a pot place 1 ½ cup hot water, rice and half of the salt. Once it boils, turn the heat low and simmer till the rice absorbs all the water. In a wide skillet first cook the meat with canola oil till its color turns to brown. And then, stir in onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste (optional) and the rest of the salt. Cook for 3 minutes and sprinkle the spices. Transfer the cooked rice over the cooked ground meat mixture and combine them all.
Now it’s time to roll the stuffed cabbages.
Take one piece of cabbage leaf and place 1-2 tbsp of filling (according to the size of the leaf) on the wider side (see the picture) and fold the sides inside and roll (see the picture). Repeat this for the remaining leaves.
Arrange cabbage rolls in a large pot (see the picture), chop butter in small pieces and scatter it on top. Pour lemon juice and cover half of it with boiling water. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat low and cover the lid. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the rice cooks thoroughly. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
Serve Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Ground Beef warm, with yogurt or yogurt sauce.
ENJOY

P.S: My favorite stuffed cabbage rolls are the ones, made with pickled cabbage. It’s a traditional recipe of Bulgaria. I just pickle whole or cut in half white cabbage and use it for this recipe. And when making this recipe from pickled cabbage you do not need to boil the cabbage. Just cut it into pieces and fill with the filling. Also do not use lemon juice while cooking the stuffed cabbage rolls, because they have already the sour taste from pickling. I prefer this pickling cabbage taste for this recipe.
For the pickled cabbage recipe you can use both of these recipes:



Use whole head or cut the head in half and pickle that way, instead of cutting into pieces.

TURKCE
1 bas beyaz lahana
250 gr kiyma
1 buyuk boy sogan, kucuk dogranmis
1 su bardagi pirinc, yikanip suzulmus
1 domates, dogranmis/1 su bardagi domates konservesi
1 tatli kasigi domates salcasi (istege bagli)
1 yemek kasigi tuz
1 cay kasigi kimyon
1 cay kasigi karabiber
1-2 yemek kasigi sivi yag
1 ½ su bardagi sicak su
1-2 yemek kasigi tereyag
½ limonun suyu

Lahananin dis yapraklarini atin. Buyuk bir tencereye butun lahanayi koyun, uzerini su ile kaplayin ve yuksek atese alin. Bir miktar tuz atin. Kaynamaya baslayinca orta atese alin ve dis yapraklari yumusayip gevseyene dek kaynatin (2-3 dakika). Sonra yumusayan yapraklari koparin ve genis bir tabak ya da tepsiye koyun. Lahanayi kaynayan suyun icine tekrar koyun ve butun yapraklar yumusayana dek ayni kaynatma islemini tekrarlayin. Yapraklarin sogumasi icin 8-10 dakika bekletin.
Yapraklarin ortasindaki kalin damari bicakla kesin ve buyuk yapraklari 3, kucuk yapraklari 2 esit parcaya kesin (resime bakiniz).
Eger sarmalari kucuk yaparsaniz yaklasik 50 tane, buyuk yaparsaniz 30-35 tane elde edersiniz. Ben buyuk sarmayi tercih ediyorum, bu yuzden buyuk yapraklari ikiye boldum, kucuk yapraklari hic kesmeden sardim.
Bu sirada, bir tencerede 1 ½ su bardagi sicak su ile pirinci haslayin. ½ yemek kasigi tuz ilave edin ve suyunu cekene dek kisik ateste pisirin. Sonra genis bir tavada kiymayi yag ile kavurun. Rengi kahverengiye donunce sogani ilave edin ve soganlar yumusayana dek 2-3 dakika pisirin. Domates ve domates salcasini (istege bagli) ve ½ yemek kasigi tuz ilave edin. 3 dakika pisirin ve baharatlari ilave edip ocagi kapatin. Pismis pirinci kiyma karisiminin uzerien dokup hepsini guzelce karistirin.
Bir parca lahana yapragi alin ve genis kismina 1-2 yemek kasigi ic (yapragin buyuklugune gore) koyun (resime bakiniz). Kenarlarini ice dogru kivirin ve uca dogru yuvarlayarak sarin (resime bakiniz). Bu islemi butun lahana yapraklari icin tekrarlayin.
Lahana sarmalarini genis bir tencereye dizin (resime bakiniz). Uzerine kucuk kucuk kesilmis tereyagini dagitin. Limon suyunu dokun ve sarmalarin yarisini kaplayacak sekilde sicak su koyun. Yuksek ateste kaynayamasini bekleyin.Kaynamaya baslayinca kapagini kapatin ve kisik ateste yaklasik 20-30 dakika pirincler tam olarak yumusayana dek pisirin. Altini kapatin ve 15-20 dakika dinlendirin.
Etli Lahana Sarmasi’ni yogurt veya sarimsakli yogurt ile servis yapin.
AFIYET OLSUN

NOT: Benim en sevdigim lahana sarmasi, lahana tursusundan yapilandir. Lahana tursusundan yapilan sarma Bulgaristan’a ozgu bir tariftir. Bu tarif icin; direk olarak butun veya ikiye boldugum lahanadan tursu yapiyorum. Sonra sarma yaparken direk yapraklari kesip ic ile doldurarark sariyorum. Lahanayi kaynatmaya gerek kalmiyor. Ayrica sarmalsri tencerede pisirirken limon suyu koymaniza gerek yok, cunku zaten tursu lahananin kendine ozgu bir eksi tadi oluyor. Ben de lahana sarmasinda tursudan gelen bu eksi tadi tercih ediyorum.
Lahana tursu yapimi icin asagidaki her iki tarifi de kullanabilirsiniz, tek fark lahanayi butun ya da yariya bolerek yapacaksiniz.



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