We present here three versions of this dish.

1 large cabbage
1 small onion, finely diced
1 lb | 450g minced pork, beef or chicken
¼ cup milk
1 oz | 28g margarine
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 thin slices bread, soaked in cold water*
seasoning

* Cooked rice can be used instead of bread, if preferred.

Carefully remove the leaves of the cabbage, wash and put in a pan with just enough water to cover them. Cook till half tender, strain, saving the water for later.

Fry diced onions in ½oz | 14g margarine and mix with the minced meat. Squeeze water from bread and add to pork mixture. Add nutmeg and seasoning and mix all these well together and put aside.

Lay one large cabbage leaf flat on a plate and three or four smaller ones over it. Take a teaspoonful of the mixture, smooth into a sausage shape, lay on one end of the cabbage, fold the two sides and roll.

When all cabbage and meat is used, tie the folded cabbage leaves together carefully with string and put them neatly in a pan. Add the cabbage water, boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes. Strain cabbage and lay neatly on a platter.

Add milk to the gravy, thicken with flour and water, add margarine and bring to the boil stirring all the time. Pour the gravy over the dished up cabbage.

½ lb chicken meat, minced
5 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
½ a cherry size of powdered citric acid
salt and pepper
1 large cabbage

Wash the rice well and drain.

Mix the chicken, celery and onions well with the drained raw rice and season with salt and pepper, and powdered citric acid.

Remove the leaves of the cabbage and wash them well.

Boil about ¼ pan of water, put in a cabbage leaf, and bring to the boil with the lid off (to preserve the green colour). Drain and remove. If the stem of the leaf is a bit too hard to bend, slice a small piece off.

Take one large leaf – or two if more vegetables are liked. Lay flat, put 1 or 2 spoons of the prepared ingredients on the end, fold the two corners and roll loosely so as to give the rice space to expand. Lay each one neatly on a pan, and when all the rice is used, add enough water or stock just enough to cover the rolls. Put a little citric acid in the water to keep the cabbage firm.

Cover the lid tightly, bring to the boil and simmer over a very low fire for to 1 hour. When ready remove carefully.

ROLLS

600g minced pork and veal
1 cup raw rice
120g chouriço, chopped
2 eggs
1 small onion, diced
1 cabbage
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 tbsp light soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

SAUCE

1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced fine
1 cup white wine
1 400g tin of diced tomatoes
2 tbsp good olive oil
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Remove and discard the outer dark green leaves of the cabbage. With a thin sharp knife cut away a conical piece of the stalk so that the individual leaves can be removed more readily.

Put the cabbage into a large saucepan of boiling water with the stalk side down, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. Turn the cabbage over and cut through the tops of each of the outer leaves and remove them, taking care not to tear them.

Turn the cabbage stalk side down again and simmer again to loosen the next few leaves and repeat until enough leaves (about ten) have been removed. Let the leaves cool. (The remainder of the cabbage can be used in some other dish.)

Put a leaf flat on a board with the outside uppermost. With a sharp knife held horizontally, carefully cut off most of the thick part of the stalk, taking care not to cut through the leaf. Repeat until all the leaves have been done.

Mix well the minced meat, chopped chouriço, small diced onion, soy sauce, eggs, salt and pepper.

Lay out each cabbage leaf in turn on a board with the inside uppermost and with the stalk nearest you. Place a handful of mixture at the stalk end and roll up the leaf half way, fold in the sides and finish rolling all the way.

In a saucepan fry the large diced onion, then add the finely diced garlic, salt and pepper and continue frying for a few minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and the white wine and simmer for a few minutes.

Array the cabbage rolls in a casserole, pour in the sauce and if necessary add enough boiling water to cover the cabbage. Bake in an oven at 160° for an hour.