Lazy Cabbage Rolls – Ленивые Голубцы
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 mins
- Yield: 12-14 cabbage rolls 1x
- Category: Entree
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 Tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon butter or oil
- 1–2 onions, finely diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and finely grated
- 1 celery stalk, minced
- 3 cups green cabbage, finely shredded or chopped in food processor (about 1/2 of a small/medium cabbage head)
- 1 lb ground meat, (ground pork, chicken, turkey, beef, etc.)
- 1 cup cooked long grain rice (or 1/3 cup of uncooked rice that you need to cook before starting the recipe)
- 1 egg
- 1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce (or puree a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes)
- 1–2 garlic cloves, minced
- salt, ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter or oil in a skillet. Add onions, carrot and celery. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat, until the vegetables are tender. Add the shredded cabbage, pour in about 1/2 cup of water and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the cabbage is softened too. Cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, cooked rice, cooked vegetables and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.
- Form the meat mixture into oval patties, about 1/4 cup each, placing them into a 13×9 inch glass baking dish.
- In the same skillet you were using to cook the vegetables, add the remaining 1 teaspoon of butter or oil and add the minced garlic, sautéing for only about 30 seconds. Pour in the tomato sauce and another 1/2 cup of water. Season with salt and ground black pepper. You can also add some herbs or spices. Bring the tomato sauce to a boil.
- I love adding a bit of garlic to the sauce to make it more flavorful. If I’m using homemade sauce, it’s already very flavorful and has garlic in it, so I skip adding more garlic, but add the water and heat it up. Heating up the sauce takes only a minute, but will really speed up the cooking process. Since I already used the skillet to cook the veggies, it’s not going to be an extra skillet to wash, so I like to do this. If you don’t heat up the sauce, bake the cabbage rolls in the oven longer.
- Pour the tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 min, or until the meat is cooked through and tender.
- Another variation of making lazy cabbage rolls is shallow frying in a skillet.
- Heat about 1 Tablespoon oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Dredge the oval patties in flour and add to pan, cooking for about 3 min per side, until lightly golden.