Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage

It was the first time on the Cabbage Festival, when I saw the stuffed cabbage is cooked in bogrács (kettle.)

I guess stuffed cabbage is a well-known and popular savoury food in many parts of Europe and Western Asia, but made differently everywhere. Many years ago (during high school), I spent a summer in Israel where I tasted the kosher variety without smoked pork and sour cream. To be honest, I could never be a kosher because the stuffed cabbage is only good with sour cream and smoke pork :) Like on this picture.

1 Large cabbage

½ kilogram Ground beef or pork

1 1/4 cups Long grain white rice

salt to taste

pepper to taste

Red Hungarian Paprika - for color and taste

3 Large fresh garlic cloves pressed or more if desired

2-3 Eggs

1 Onion - grated into meat mixture

300 gram Smoked Ham hock

1 kilogram Saurkraut - rinse alittle right before adding so it's not too sour.

2 small cans of contadina tomato paste - mix both cans with enough water to cover entire pot of stuffed cabbage for cooking.

Oil and flour for the roux

1. Remove core from the cabbage. Separate the leaves and boil them uncovered for 5 minutes or until soft enough to roll. Dry and reserve liquid.

2. Combine the meat, rice, spices, and eggs, mix well with your hands. Lay out a leaf of cabbage and center about 2 tablespoons of meat. Fold up sides and roll up ends to seal each roll. Continue with all the meat and cabbage.

3. To fill the pot, start with a layer of that chopped up cabbage mixed with sauerkraut. Then place the stuffed cabbage. Add another layer of chopped cabbage and sauerkraut on top of that, then another layer of stuffed cabbage. Keep going like this until you run out of stuffed cabbage, and add a final layer of chopped cabbage and sauerkraut on top.

4. Add the tomato saft, the smoked pork and the water to just cover the contents of the pot. Cook on simmer for one and half hour or until rice is tender.

5. Make a roux. (Ingredients for roux: 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 tablespoon of flour, paprika )