Denise says:

These stuffed cabbage leaves are a traditional dish for Succot, the harvest festival in the autumn. The stuffing symbolises abundance. Versions of this dish have long been enjoyed by Jewish communities in the Middle East, Europe and Russia and my addition of chopped apricots gives the tradition a great twist.

I like to serve these little cabbage parcels as either a starter erev Yom Tov, lunch or part of a buffet during Succot. The sweet and sour tomato sauce can be used with meat balls and freezes well. There are several ways to soften the cabbage leaves; the method I prefer is to place a cored cabbage in a saucepan. Pour boiling water over it and simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Preparation Time: 35 minutes Cooking Time: 2 hours Serves: 6 people

Ingredients:

1 kg lean minced lamb
75g long grain rice
110g dried apricots – finely chopped
2 onions – peeled and finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic – peeled and finely chopped
3 tablespoons water
1 -2 large Savoy green or white cabbage – cored
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs – lightly beaten

For the Sauce
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
2 onions- peeled and roughly chopped
3 tablespoons brown /Demerara sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoon tomato ketchup
100ml red wine
Pinch of cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Handful of raisins – optional
Garnish: 100g Pine nuts – toasted

Method

1. Put the beef, rice, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, chopped onions, apricots and garlic in a bowl. Beat the eggs with the water and combine with the meat mixture. Chill.
2. Remove the core from the cabbage by cutting through the centre like a cone. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Plunge the cabbage leaves in to it for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the pan, peel off the outer leaves and repeat the process until you have about 16 leaves.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 150 C/300 F/ Gas mark 2.
4. Shape the beef mixture into ovals, the size of a large egg. Wrap each in one or two cabbage leaves folding and over lapping the leaves so that the mixture is completely enclosed.
5. Lay the cabbage parcels in the base of an ovenproof dish. Mix all the sauce ingredients together and pour over the top
6. Cover and bake for 2 hours.
To serve the stylish way: Transfer the parcels onto a serving dish and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts
Tagged in: Ashkenazi, Beef, Shabbat, Succot