Holubtsi (Ukrainian cabbage rolls)
Holubtsi
Contains allergens
- Author
- Equipo Cocinoa
- Preparation time
- 3 hr
- Servings
- 6
Summary
A medium-difficulty recipe for 6 servings. It takes about 3 hours to make. Each serving has about 589 kcal. It is gluten-free and nut-free.
Ukraine's cabbage rolls: blanched white cabbage leaves filled with rice, minced pork and beef and a sauté of onion and carrot, baked slowly in a tomato and soured cream sauce.
Ingredients
- 150 g Rice (short-grain)
- 2 u Onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves Garlic (chopped)
- 2 u Carrot (coarsely grated)
- 2 teaspoons Salt (plus extra for the water)
- 0.5 teaspoons Black pepper (ground)
- 4 tablespoons Sunflower Oil
- 300 g Ground Pork
- 2 tablespoons Tomato Puree
- 2 leaves Bay Leaf
- 300 g Ground Beef (beef)
- 250 g Sour Cream (150 g for the sauce and 100 g to serve)
- 1 bunch Dill (small, chopped)
- 400 g Chopped Tomatoes (tinned (1 tin))
- 1 u White cabbage (large, about 2 kg)
- Water (for blanching the cabbage, plus 400 ml hot water for the sauce)
Instructions
Remove any damaged outer leaves from the cabbage. With a pointed knife, cut around the core in a deep cone to hollow it out, so the leaves come loose at the base.
5 min
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, big enough to hold the cabbage, and lower it in hollow side down. As the outer leaves soften, ease them off with tongs and a fork and lift them out. Repeat until you have about 18 large leaves, and keep the heart. Leave the leaves to drain and, once cool enough to handle, shave the thick central rib down with a knife so it lies flat.
25 min
Rinse the rice and boil it in salted water for 7 minutes: it should be only half cooked. Drain and leave to cool.
10 min
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and soften the onion over medium heat until tender and lightly golden. Add the carrot and garlic and cook for 5 more minutes, until the carrot softens. Set half of this mixture aside for the sauce.
15 min
Heat the oven to 180 °C conventional. In a bowl, mix both meats with the rice, the other half of the onion mixture, now cooled, half the dill, the salt and pepper, and knead briefly by hand until evenly combined.
5 min
Lay a leaf rib side down with the base towards you, put about two heaped tablespoons of filling (60-70 g) near the base, fold the base over it, then the sides towards the middle, and roll it up without packing it too tightly, as the rice swells. Halve any very large leaves. Line the bottom of an ovenproof casserole with the torn leaves and the chopped heart and arrange the rolls on top, seam side down, snugly in one or two layers.
25 min
For the sauce, return the reserved onion mixture to the pan and add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, 150 g of soured cream and the 400 ml of hot water. Season lightly with salt and stir until it boils and is smooth. Pour it over the rolls, which should be almost covered, and tuck the bay leaves in between them.
8 min
Cover the casserole and bake until the cabbage is very tender and the rice cooked; uncover for the last 20 minutes so the sauce reduces and browns a little on top. You can also cook them covered on the hob over very low heat for about 75 minutes.
90 min
Leave to rest for 10 minutes out of the oven. Serve with their sauce, the remaining soured cream and the rest of the dill on top.
10 min
Notes
Holubtsi (from holub, "dove", perhaps for the shape of the rolls) are among Ukraine's best-loved dishes and are a fixture at weddings, family meals and the Christmas Eve supper, when they are made without meat, with rice or buckwheat and mushrooms. Every region has its version: in the west they are made small and sometimes with fermented cabbage leaves; elsewhere they are filled with millet or grated potato. The tricky part is separating the leaves: blanching the whole cabbage and peeling off the leaves as they soften stops them tearing, and shaving down the thick central rib with a knife makes them easy to roll. The rice goes in half-cooked, because it finishes cooking inside the roll and swells; that is why you should not roll them too tightly. If you cannot find soured cream, crème fraîche or Greek yoghurt mixed with a little cream will do. With savoy cabbage they are more tender and blanch faster. You can assemble them the day before and keep them raw in the fridge, already covered in sauce, then bake them the next day for an extra quarter of an hour. They improve on reheating: they keep for 4 days in the fridge and freeze well in their sauce for up to three months; thaw them in the fridge and reheat them covered in the oven.
More information
Nutrition facts589 kcal per serving
Nutrition facts
- Protein17 %25 g
- Carbs29 %44 g
- Fat54 %36 g
The percentage shows how much of the calories each macronutrient provides.
| Nutrient | Per serving | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 589 kcal | 111 kcal |
| Protein | 25 g | 4.7 g |
| Carbs | 44 g | 8.3 g |
| Fat | 36 g | 6.8 g |
One serving is about 533 g of raw ingredients; values per 100 g are based on that weight.
Estimated from the ingredient list · Values may vary depending on cooking method and product brand.
Guide indicatorsDifficulty, quality and data reliability
Guide indicators
- Estimated difficulty81/100
- Recipe completeness65/100
- Nutrition reliability
- Medium
Calculated automatically from the ingredients, steps, time and community feedback. They are not a guarantee.
StorageKeeps 4 days in the fridge
Frequently asked questions
- How long does Holubtsi (Ukrainian cabbage rolls) take to make?
- It takes about 3 hours in total.
- Which allergens does Holubtsi (Ukrainian cabbage rolls) contain?
- It contains milk. Always check the labels of the products you use.
- How long does Holubtsi (Ukrainian cabbage rolls) keep in the fridge?
- Up to 4 days in the fridge, in a closed container. It can also be frozen.
- How many calories does Holubtsi (Ukrainian cabbage rolls) have?
- About 589 kcal per serving, with 25 g of protein, 44 g of carbohydrates and 36 g of fat. This is an estimate worked out from its ingredients.
- Which diets is this recipe suitable for?
- It is gluten-free and nut-free.
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