Dishy Doc is still away, so it’s all about food! I love comfort food. Don’t we all! Home cooked meals cooked with love, family around the table. I love getting good veggies into my family and that isn’t always easy. Fussy pants regularly leaves out mushrooms, rolls her eyes at egg plant or courgette and scowls at spinach or other greens with the death stare extraordinaire! So I am always trying to find dishes that make both of us happy – me with the nutrition she is receiving and her with the taste… not always easy, but sometimes we get a real winner!
I also adore savoy cabbage… I love the bright green colour and the wrinkles. I don’t see them a lot here in Kuala Lumpur, so when I see one I just HAVE to buy it…. I’m crazy like that 🙂
When my niece who was visiting said “I gotta say this is really good” and my girls agreed, I knew I was onto one of those winners I look for. ! “Thanks mum” is one of those things which makes my heart burst and the time taken in the kitchen suddenly becomes all worth while. So here is the long waited for recipe I have promised!
PORK CABBAGE ROLLS WITH SWEET AND SOUR TOMATO SAUCE
Ingredients:
For the cabbage rolls:
- 1 green cabbage, about 2 lb., bruised or discolored outer leaves discarded
- 500 g pork mince
- 1 large carrot
- 1 red or yellow onion
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
- 5 sage leaves
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 12 juniper berries
- 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 1 tsp olive oil.
For the sweet and sour sauce
- 1 red or yellow yellow onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalk, chopped, leaves included.
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 tsp. caraway seeds
- 1 kg tomatoes
- 1 sweet bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup bone broth
- 1 to 2 tbs tomato paste (See my post on how to make your own)
- 1 apple.
- 1 tbs balsamic vinegar.
- Wash cabbage well. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. . Remove the cabbage core by cutting with a knife and twisting it out and place the cabbage into the boiling water and cook until the leaves are done. (5 to 10 minutes) Set aside and cool. Once cool, remove about 12 of the nice large outside leaves (these will be stuffed). Retain a few of the small inner leaves (about 50 to 100g worth) to mix with the pork. (and use any other left over leaves for a soup the next day!)
- Peel and quarter the onion. Chop in Thermomix … 3 seconds, speed 6. Add one tsp olive oil. Saute. 3 minutes, 100, speed 1. Chop carrot into large chunks and place in Thermomix. Add sage. Chop. 3 seconds, speed 6. Add, pork, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper and the retained small inner leaves. Mix ingredients at Speed 3, 15 seconds, using the thermomix spatula through the lid to stir. (do not use any other than the Thermomix spatula) . Repeat if needed. Divide the pork filling among the cabbage leaves. Fold the white stem end of each leaf over the filling, add a juniper berry then fold in each of the sides and roll up the rest of the leaf. Repeat for each leaf. ( If you do not have a thermomix, chop onion and grate the carrot. Saute until translucent and add sage, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Remove from pan and add pork and egg to the mix. Mix well.)
To make the sauce, sauté the chopped onion and diced carrot over medium heat until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add chopped celery. Stir and heat through. Add caraway seeds, tomatoes, broth, tomato paste, apple and balsamic vinegar. Stir for a minute or two until well mixed. . Place the cabbage rolls, seam down, in a single layer in the pan, and then spoon sauce and vegetables over the rolls. Cover and transfer to the oven and bake in a 180 celcius / 350 F oven until the cabbage rolls are tender and the filling is cooked through. This should take about an hour.
Enjoy!
Vivienne
(Reblogged from my blog at https://nograinlife.wordpress.com/2015/10/10/stuff-that-cabbage/)
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