Unstuffed Savoy Cabbage Rolls Russian Style Holubtsi Lenivie

Golubsi Lenivie Lazy Cabbage Rolls

Unstuffed cabbage rolls some members of my family like more than traditional Russian cabbage rolls call holubtsi. We can make lazy holubtsi with savoy cabbage or white cabbage. The technology of preparation is the same. I am going to share the recipe ow I cook this dish for my family in the USA. To make a sauce I use canned tomato soup, brand Campbell. I was making sauce from scratch pureed tomatoes + tomato paste when I was leaving in Russia. I am sharing this recipe as I cook in my kitchen, so in my ingredients Campbell tomato soup. If you put more meat in the recipe is fine, other ingredients you can adjust to your own taste. However, be careful with the amount of rice, better less than more. Rice absorbs water so much. Maybe it will be not much noticeable after you take it from the stove but after dish stays a few hours, rice is going absorbs more liquid and when the time to serve, no much sauce left to serve with.

We can serve as is with sour cream but with mashed potatoes on the side is the best pairing to my taste and how it was served in my family in Russia. This is a great dish for fall and winter. Give it a try.

Ingredients:

300g lean ground beef

300g ground pork

300g cabbage

100g half-done cooked rice

1 egg

Salt

Onion powder

Black pepper

Flour for coating

Oil for frying

Ingredients on the photo approximate amound.

Sauce

2 Campbell tomato soup

1 large onion

1 large carrot

1 teaspoon butter

3 tablespoons sour cream

3 fresh bay leaves ( 1-2 dry bay leaves)

Spice mix (any to your taste, I used local Louisiana Slap Ya Mama spice mix )

*Instead of Campbell soup we can use tomato sauce of your choice.

Ingredients on the photo approximate amound.

Preparation Ingredients:

Cook 5-7 minutes rice, halfway done.

2. Shread cabbage.

3. Pour boiling water on cabbage and let it stand in hot water.

*If infused cabbage water has pleasant taste, use it to make sauce.

4. Shread carrot.

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Cooking Direction:

5. Add egg to ground meat.

* I like to crack an egg in a separate bowl at first. If I have problem with the egg, it won’t touch meat.

6. Add rice to meat.

7. Add cabbage, salt, pepper, dry onion powder and spice mix to taste. Mix well.

*Look like a lot of cabbage for this amount of meat, don’t worry when you start mixing everything will be fine.

8. I used 1/2 cup mesuring cup to make all my cabbage rolls the same size. It is important, so all rolls cook evenly and look good. Make all rolls in the oval shape .

9. Coat rolls in flour.

*It is not nessesary but I like to coat rolls 2 times. The surface of first cabbage roll partially will be wet after I done with the last one because meat absorbs the flour. I repeat this again.

10. Fry cabbage on high heat. We build up flavors and make coating. We don’t need cabbage rolls cooked completely.

11. Saute onion in mix of butter and vegetable oil 5 minutes. Add carrot and saute until vegetables done. Add sour cream and saute a few minutes more.

12. 1 can of tomato soup mix with the same amount of hot water and add to vegetables. Add salt, pepper, and spice mix.

*I added dry parsley and dry dill but it is optional.

13. Place cabbage rolls on layer of sauce with vegetables. Add bay leaves. If you don’t have enought sauce to cover rolls, add hot broth or just hot water.

*I use fresh bay leaves but dry work well too. Of course, fresh bay leaf flavor much better than dry.

Read more about bay leaves → How to Use Bay Leaves in Cooking

14. Very important, if you cook on the countertop. Cook on most lower temperature as possible 40 minutes. The surface on top of the sauce should just slightly moving.

*If you let rapidly boil the sauce, the bottom of rolls can possibly burned. To prevent it we can layered the bottom with cabbage leaves.