Cabbage Rolls/Galumpki

[Misschief]

For those of you who make them, what do you use - tomato juice, tomato soup, or tomato sauce? I'm trying to remember what my parents' neighbour used to do but that was over 50 years ago. I've never made my own but I want to.

Any tips or tricks to share? Fave recipes?

 

[shunt2011]

I use V8 vegetable juice. One of my favorite things to eat.

 

[Obsidian]

I use whatever the recipe calls for. Here are a couple of my favorites

http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-cabbage-rolls-50949

if you have trouble making nice rolls like I do, this is a one pot version. You can eat the whole pot with very little carbs and calories. Weight watcher 7 points for the whole pot!

UNSTUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS
Ingredients:
1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small cabbage, chopped
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) low sodium diced tomatoes
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender.
Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.
Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.
Yield: Serves 6 to 8.

 

[KristaY]

Well there's a blast from the past! I haven't made them in several years so I guess it's time. I don't have a recipe handed down or from a specific culture. No idea why as my ancestors were primarily German, Irish and British. My filling is basically the same filling I use for stuffed bell peppers which is ground meat, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, rice & various spices. Sometimes I add in veggies that I may have on hand like zucchini or mushrooms. Sometimes I sprinkle a bit of mozzarella over the top at the end of the bake time. Nothing fancy or secret, lol. Just hardy and comforting on a cold day.

 

[IrishLass]

My mom's side of the family is Polish (my great grandma emigrated from Poland), so I've been eating galumpkis and pierogis all my life (still make gobs of pierogis at Christmas).

For what it's worth, this is what me and my auntie do: we do a mix of creamy tomato soup with tomato juice or V-8, and a little bit of our secret ingredient- ketchup):


1 large head cabbage
1 large onion, chopped
2 1/4 cups cooked rice
1.5 lbs. ground meat (beef/pork combo)
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
20 oz. Pacific brand Creamy Tomato Soup
1.5 oz ketchup
1 (46 oz) can tomato juice (or sub V- 8 )
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes


Directions: Core cabbage and separate the leaves. Boil leaves for about 5 minutes to soften. Drain. Mix together ground meat, rice, egg, onion, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the soup, ketchup, juice and diced tomatoes together. Set aside. In a large enamel roasting pan, lay some of the boiled, loose leaves on bottom to cover, and pour a just little of the tomato mixture on top. Set aside. Lay remaining leaves out flat. Put a portion of meat mixture on the inside center of each leaf, fold the stemmy part of leaf up over meat, fold in the 2 sides, then roll up to the end. Continue in the same fashion with the rest of leaves/meat mixture. Place the finished rolls into the pan on top of the loose leaves/sauce, then pour the rest of the saucy tomato mixture over top. Cover pan with a lid and bake at 350 degreesF for 60-90 minutes. The longer and slower you cook these, the better they are. Serves 12.


IrishLass

 

[Misschief]

You guys rock! Thanks to all, but especially IL. I'm pretty sure that's that way our neighbour did it.

 

[CTAnton]

my mouth is watering....my grandmother was Polish....what gustatory delights those galumpkis are...breakfast, lunch and dinner! Of course to keep my father happy my mom HAD to learn to make them.
We never made them with tomato juice or anything tomato oriented. We fried them. I remember early on my mom boiling the cabbage to get the leaves off the head....later on in her life she froze the head....the texture of the leaves was noticeably different but I kept my mouth shut.They were always better the day after (that whole marrying of flavors thing). I would have 2 of those,a twice baked potato, the last part over the fence of the turkey(the pope's nose) and there was my purely fantastic Thanksgiving Day meal...
I will say this...in the 60's before the whole nitrate issue reared its ugly head Mom would buy what I'm sure was nitrate laden sausage meat in a plastic tube...probably a pound in weight and not of any of the brands that live on today. When she started grinding her own meats to go in the stuffing, well....whether it was the nitrates or the spicing of that mix something was lost...

 

[navigator9]

Oh stop...you're making me hungry! Brings back memories of when I was a kid. The meat grinder clamped to the kitchen table, sometimes I would get to crank the handle. An onion went in last to clear all of the meat from inside. My mother and father working together to make a big pot of stuffed cabbage, and sometimes stuffed peppers. So many recipes I wish I had thought to get before they were gone. The whole house smelled like heaven. Oh those good old days. I've made them with recipes I've found, but they never taste as good as the ones from my childhood.

 

[Misschief]

They're in the oven! Thanks IL; I used your recipe. I still have quite a bit of the sauce left so I've frozen it for another recipe. My daughter and the kids will be here later for trick or treating and this will be dinner, either before or after.

 

[fuzz-juzz]

We are making them with fermented cabbage.:-D
1/3 of the stuffing is raw smoked speck and spicy sausage, rest is half beef/half pork. I also add couple of fried onions and few cloves of garlic, pepper, salt, paprika, etc.
Rolls are covered with just enough water to boil and at the end, roux is made with a bit of oil and flour, more paprika and some tomato passata.
Whole house smells like it for a few days, but it's so worth it.

 

[Misschief]

Just wanted to update... we had them for dinner and they're like I remember - yummy! The grandkids didn't care for the cabbage but the adults loved them! Thanks IrishLass! I'll make them again, for sure!