Lazy Cabbage Rolls with Pork in a Skillet – Easy Recipe
Nobody knows who first came up with lazy cabbage rolls, or when, but I'm grateful to them. The method is quite simple. Traditional cabbage rolls take a fair bit of work, whereas shaping large meatballs from a filling with chopped cabbage mixed in is something anyone can manage. Here, “lazy” describes the cook, not the dish. Then again, it's less about laziness and more about a lack of time.
The main challenge with classic cabbage rolls is preparing the cabbage leaves to wrap the filling. When I was little, my mom would pick soft heads of cabbage whose leaves came off easily. Today's cabbage varieties are rock hard, and peeling off a leaf is tricky. I once wrote about removing cabbage leaves from the head under running water – the method works, but only if the leaves are smooth and free of “folds”.
In terms of ingredients, lazy cabbage rolls are almost the same as regular ones: pork, rice, onion, cabbage and the usual sauce. You only need to add a binder so the filling holds its shape without a cabbage wrapper. As a rule, an egg solves this. You're unlikely to serve this simplified version at a festive dinner – as my mom says, the guests won't get it. But for everyday home cooking it's a great option.
Despite its obvious simplicity, making lazy cabbage rolls is a creative process. If you like, you can use chicken, mushrooms or beef instead of pork. A vegetarian version is very common – the shredded cabbage in the filling is combined with other vegetables. Instead of rice, you can use corn grits, bulgur, pearl barley and so on. I've read that lazy cabbage rolls can be cooked in a cauldron. To me, that's problematic – you'd have to make a firmer filling, and then the rolls won't be as soft and tender.
Essentially, lazy cabbage rolls are large meatballs braised in sauce, made from ordinary ground meat with rice and finely shredded cabbage. Patties, in effect, with the wonderful taste of cabbage rolls.
I was once surprised to learn that people cooking at home often don't bother shaping individual meatballs at all. They settle for a plate of the filling with sauce, even though the ingredients match the recipe exactly. I suppose those are very lazy cabbage rolls. Besides, some recipes suggest running the prepared filling through a meat grinder or blitzing it in a blender. Whatever recipe you use, the dish always turns out delicious – tried and tested. By the way, if you add bell pepper instead of cabbage, you'll get lazy stuffed peppers.
Ingredients
4 servings
- Pork 400 g
- Rice 0.5 cup
- White cabbage 400 g
- Carrot 1
- Onion 2-3
- Egg 1-2
- Vegetable oil 4 tbsp
- Tomato juice 1.5 cups
- Sour cream, parsley for serving
- Salt, black pepper, hot pepper, coriander, savory to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- Making the filling
- For the filling you'll need lean pork. Shoulder or ham works great. Sometimes you can buy a pork goulash pack – small pieces and trimmings of good-quality meat. Since the meat gets ground anyway, that option is fine. You can add even more onion than for regular cabbage-wrapped rolls. Cut off as much of the cabbage head as you need – preferably the part farther from the core, where the leaves are more tender.
- Grind the pork in a meat grinder. Boil the rice until tender in plenty of water, then drain. By the way, it's best to use non-sticky, long-grain rice – basmati and parboiled are ideal. Shred the cabbage very finely, trying to keep the tough parts of the leaves out of the filling. Peel the onion and carrot. Grate the carrot finely and chop the onion with a knife. Fry the onion in 1 tbsp vegetable oil until golden.
- Add the grated carrot to the onion and fry together until the carrot softens and turns the onion orange. Add all the shredded cabbage. Stir, then braise over low heat, covered, for 10-12 mins. By then the cabbage will be soft and the vegetable mixture uniform. Don't add salt or spices at this stage.
- Add the cooked rice to the vegetables. If the rice has stuck together a little, you can rinse it – that's fine. It's worse if the rice is in lumps. Mix the rice with the vegetables and take the skillet off the heat. Let the rice and vegetables cool to room temperature.
- In a large, convenient bowl, combine the vegetable and rice mixture, the ground pork and the egg. If you're worried the shaped rolls will fall apart during cooking, feel free to add another egg. Season the filling with salt and spices – traditionally black and hot pepper, ground coriander and dried savory. Mix the filling until uniform.
- Frying in a skillet
- With wet hands, shape the mixture into meatballs. They can be large or small, as you like. I prefer to make them fairly large, roughly the size of regular cabbage rolls. This amount makes 8 for me, two per serving. Heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet and add the meatballs. Fry for 2-3 mins on each side until lightly browned. Turn them very carefully – they are not as firm as they seem. A spatula or a very large spoon, often included in kitchen utensil sets, works well for this.
- Braising in sauce on the stove
- Everyone has their own sauce for cabbage rolls, and we prefer a simple tomato sauce. Pour 1.5 cups of the best tomato juice you can find into the skillet. Season with salt and pepper and add dried savory. If you like, add hot pepper and – I like this – 0.5 tsp sugar: the sauce will be sweet-and-sour with a delicate flavor. Add 0.5 cup hot water.
- Braise the cabbage rolls over medium heat, covered, turning them carefully from time to time. Cook for 20-25 mins so the pork in the filling is fully cooked. If the sauce boils away, add boiling water, but in small amounts. In the end, the sauce should be fairly thick.
- While the cabbage rolls are hot, place them on plates and spoon the sauce over them. As a rule, the dish is served with sour cream or soured milk – no need to invent anything new. We also love to add finely chopped parsley and, just before serving, a grind of fresh black pepper.
- This is a simple dish, since there's no need to prepare cabbage leaves or wrap the filling. It tastes exactly as you'd expect.
| Yield: | 4 servings |
| Calories: | 180 |
| Prep: | 45 mins |
| Cooking: | 45 mins |
| Ready in: | 1 h 30 mins |
| Category: | Main Dishes |
| Cuisine: | Ukrainian cuisine |
| Rating: |
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5
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