Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Stuffed cabbage (not the traditional way)

I use to make many times stuffed cabbage rolls as it is a Moldovan ethnic food as it is a Ukrainian ethnic dish,Hungarian and Polish at least i know about those,but i am more then sure there must be more countries that have it,Back home we stuff grape leaves the way we do cabbage leaves.And i remember when i was little we used to live in a building that have a vine with grapes  on the back  yard of it,so when my mom was making stuff cabbage early in the summer i would go and pick up some grape leaves,the younger the leaves the better the taste.One day i ll post my mom's recipe for stuffed cabbage leaves,but today i am making a new version of stuffed cabbage.

And there is a funny story related to stuffed cabbage(called" sarmale"  back home)in my family.
As i mention in the page about me, my grandma was a chef at kindergarten in our town and until now kids that are grown ups remember her dishes.So when my cousin got married my grandma was in charge of food and of course of stuffed grape leaves as they are a part of of our wedding menu and are served toward the end (better said almost in the morning,as our weddings last until 4-5 am or even later)
And when the plates with "sarmale"were served you could see confusion on people's faces.They were asking what is it?And indeed  there were piles of something black on the plates,but it tasted very good
  As we found out next day from our grandma  , because she though the leaves were not as tender as she tho they should be, she added baking soda to soften them and the chemical reaction that took places turned the leaves black.Luckily at the end everyone was drunk and happy and nobody complained as i mentioned they tasted pretty good:)

For this recipe you 'll need:
-1cabbage
-1 red bell pepper
-1carrot
-1red onion
-parsley
-any hard cheese
-mayo
-salt
-paprika
-1tbs olive oil

Bring a pot full of water to boil,add salt
Cut the cabbage in half starting with the stem
Put the 2 halfs of cabbage in the hot water,no more boiling necessary .Make sure the water covers the cabbage
Let it stay in hot water until water cools off. Meanwhile cut the vegetables:pepper in stripes,carrots shredded,and onion long stripes as pepper.Sprinkle with salt,paprika
Take the pieces of cabbage out,pat it dry with a paper towel
use olive to coat a baking pan ,make sure it is big enough to" accommodate"both pieces of cabbage
Place the cabbage with the inside  facing up and using your fingers start stuffing in between cabbage's leaves with vegetables.Poor some mayo on top and any shredded cheese.(i used smoked mozzarella) Put it in a oven that was preheated to 375-400F
Check on it and take it out when the cheese has a golden-brown colour

note:this was a vegetarian version.For meat lovers use any ground meat,cook it with some onion a little bit of tomato juice,  to keep it moist,add spices.Mushrooms can be used too.Don't be afraid to experiment!

3 comments:

  1. buna ,cristina,e frumos la tine!:)
    nu sunt vegetariana dar am multe retete vegetariene pe blog,ele corespund incercarii mele de a avea un stil de a ma alimenta cit mai sanatos.

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  2. merci mult,doar incepator in domeniul blogului:)Da m-am uiytat in blog retetele recente si am vazut ca-s vegetariene,mai tirziu am vazut ca sunt si de altele.oricum imi place blogul mult!Bravo!O sa-l vizitez cit mai des

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  3. ce interesant intr-adevar! - chiar imi aduci aminte de nuntile noastre bogate, cu sarmale gustoase! Da reteta ta e deosebita!

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