Rubber Dollar: New Years Day Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage Rolls

I should probably preface this post by letting you know (in case you wandered here by search engine accident...) that this is not one of my tried and true recipes.

Cabbage is supposed to bring money in the new year, and couldn't we all use a little more? Buying cabbage is a a good way to save money, too. It's very stretchy budget wise.

Cabbage on sale this week was .33 cents a pound, so I couldn't resist. My big head of cabbage cost about .80 cents and was enough for three large dishes. This is the first of those three.

random side note: it struck me while making this, that truly this is like making enchiladas, but using cabbage leaves instead of tortillas... it's amazing how many of the steps are similar. They are also very similar to stuffed peppers.

Sweet and Sour Tomato Gravy/Sauce:

1 large can of tomatoes (crushed/diced)

1 large can of tomato sauce

1 can of tomato paste

1 egg

garlic

onion

bell pepper

sugar

white vinegar

1 pound ground beef

1 cabbage

1 roll sausage (as spicy as your family likes)

1 1/2 cups cooked rice (okay to use brown and partial wild-- but not all wild.)

This took a lot of pots. I usually like to limit that.... maybe you could help?

Big stock pot: Boil salted water. While waiting on water to boil, core cabbage, but try to keep leaves intact. Carefully peel leave into separate leaves. Do not over "Martha" yourself here-- it's okay if they have a split or two, but mainly try to keep them in one piece.

Place the leaves in the boiling water for about 5 minutes. (You are just trying to make them soft.) Remove pot, drain off hot water and replace with cold to stop cooking process. Remove leave from pot as you are using them, and pat dry with paper towels. Don't use the whole head. WHen you get to the smaller harder to remove part, save it for another dish (coming!).

Filling:

In big pot (see? gotta be a better way) brown onions, garlic, bell pepper. Add 2-3 tablespoons of your Tomato paste. Remove from heat and place in large bowl. Add to bowl the meats and the rice, and 1 egg. Mix together.

Sauce:

In same big pot (see! Saved you a pot...) put the rest of the tomato sauce, and other tomatoes. You could use seasoned tomatoes (onion/pepper) if you like to spicy up the sauce a bit... Add 2 tablespoons white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Heat to low boil and reduce to simmer.

Take first leaf and using a small knife, remove the vein on one side only. (Try not to cut all the way through the leaf.) If you want to make smaller rolls, divide bigger leaves into two.

Using hands, make a small roll of filling, place in leaf and roll up burrito or egg roll style, starting with the thicker vein end. (Fold in sides as you are rolling.)

Prepare your dish -I used a big 9 x 13.. coated the bottom with sauce. Then put in the rolls, seam down.