8.8 oz. package precooked long-grain rice

I love my recipe for stuffed cabbage but it is a very time-consuming project. At times I would have leftover meat stuffing and would form this into meatballs that I cooked along with the cabbage rolls. This gave me the idea for “unstuffed” cabbage- same great flavors, takes less time. In fact my husband likes this recipe just as well, because the cabbage is a little firmer. Enjoy!

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Unstuffed Cabbage

Course

Main Dish

Cuisine

Polish

Prep Time

1 hour

Cook Time

1 hour

Servings

Ingredients

• 1 small head green cabbage cored and cut in half
• 1 small onion grated on large holes of a box grater
• 1.5 pound meat loaf mix (combination of ground beef, veal and pork) (if you cannot find use 1 lb. lean ground beef and ½ lb. ground pork)
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 28 oz. can tomato puree
• 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 small onion peeled
• 8 whole cloves
• 1/2 package 8.8 oz. package precooked long-grain rice ¼ cup long-grain rice, cooked

Course Main Dish Cuisine Polish Prep Time 1 hour Cook Time 1 hour Servings Ingredients 1 small head green cabbage cored and cut in half 1 small onion grated on large holes of a box grater 1.5 pound meat loaf mix (combination of ground beef, veal and pork) (if you cannot find use 1 lb. lean ground beef and ½ lb. ground pork) 1 egg beaten 1 28 oz. can tomato puree 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes 2 cups water 6 tbsp brown sugar 3 tbsp. lemon juice 1 small onion peeled 8 whole cloves 1/2 package 8.8 oz. package precooked long-grain rice ¼ cup long-grain rice, cooked

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the cabbage halves into the boiling water. Remove any outer leaves that detach as they become tender. Continue boiling the cabbage halves for about 10 minutes until tender. Drain in a colander.
3. Once cabbage is cool enough to handle slice into long shreds.
4. To make the sauce, in a large bowl combine the tomato puree, diced tomatoes, water, brown sugar and lemon juice.
5. To make the meatballs, in another bowl combine the meat loaf mix, 1/2 of the rice packet or the cooked rice, the grated onion, beaten egg and about ½ cup of the tomato mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix gently with wet hands until well combined.
6. Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, scoop out about 3 tbsp meat mixture and form into meatballs with wet hands. Roll gently to form meatballs so they do not become tough.
7. Coat bottom of a large roasting pan with some of the tomato sauce , then scatter half of shredded cabbage leaves in the pan. Lay meatballs on top of cabbage in the pan. Stud the whole onion with cloves and nestle between the meatballs.
8. When all the meatballs are in the pan, ladle with tomato sauce to coat. Add remaining shredded cabbage and the rest of the sauce. This will seem like a lot of sauce but I think that is the best part!
9. Cover and bring to a simmer on the stove, then place in the preheated oven.
10. Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours or until bubbly and hot.

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