Cooking Up Some Fun - Stuffed Cabbage

From Nataliya Bondarenko, Russia Program Administrative Coordinator

Stuffed cabbage is a favorite Russian comfort food, second only to borscht (beet soup). This recipe takes about 2 hours to make, but it's worth it. It also freezes well and is a one pot meal.

Ingredients:

1 head green cabbage
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 large carrots grated
3 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
1 medium parsley root, grated
1½ pounds ground turkey
½ cup rice
1 large can diced tomatoes
8 sprigs fresh parsley
8 sprigs fresh dill
1 tablespoon oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves smashed garlic
2 bay leaves
½ cup sour cream

1. Microwave the head of cabbage (or can separate the leaves and blanch them in boiling water, but microwaving is faster) until softened- about 8 minutes, but every 5 minutes I would check up on it. Let it cool a bit, and separate the leaves, they should be pliable but not turned to mush.
2. In a skillet heat the oil and add onion to it, saute on medium heat until onion just starts to color. Add carrot and parsley root to the onion saute for about 3 minutes and add pepper and saute for another 3- 5 minutes. cool and drain fat on a paper towel.
3. Mix turkey, rice and 2/3 vegetables together, add salt/ pepper and thyme.
4. By spoonfuls add mixture to the leafs and roll them like a burrito or egg rolls so that they are posed in on all sides. Don't roll tiniest leaves, save them.
5. Heat the skillet and spray some cooking spray on it. Put cabbage rolls on the skillet and lightly brown on both sides, this is an optional and fast process, needed to help the rolls keep together and it adds a roasted taste to them.
6. On a bottom of a large pot put the left over cabbage and on top of that put the sauteed vegetables, can also add some fresh sliced onion. on top of that put the cabbage rolls, diced tomato with liquid and some vegetable stock or water just enough to cover the cabbage by about 1 inch.
7. Bring pot to the boil, take some liquid out add sour cream to it so that it mixed in well and add mixture back to the pot, taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper if needed. Cover the cabbage with a plate and put some weight on top - so that the rolls are submerged. Cook for about 1-1.5 hours on low flame, make sure it simmers and doesn't boil hard.

Serve with sour cream.