Best Dirty Rice Stuffed Cabbage Recipes

RICE-STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Make the cabbage: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove 4 or 5 unblemished outer leaves from cabbage, and reserve. Add cabbage head and 2 tablespoons salt to pot. Cover and simmer, flipping once, until tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer cabbage to work surface, then add reserved leaves to pot, and cook until bright green and tender but not mushy, about 3 minutes. Spread in a single layer on paper towels to drain.
• Make the filling: Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add rice and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, rinse rice with cold water, and drain again. Toss with 2 tablespoons oil in a large bowl.
• Place currants in a small bowl, and add enough warm water to cover. Let stand until plump, about 15 minutes.
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add chard stems and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add water, and simmer until tender, about 12 minutes. Add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chard leaves, and cook until barely wilted and bright green, about 2 minutes. Add spinach, and cook until wilted and bright green, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes.
• To assemble: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut out stem from cooked cabbage, and discard. Using a spoon, scoop out inside of cabbage, leaving a 1/2-inch-thick shell. Squeeze out excess liquid from scooped cabbage, and coarsely chop insides, then stir into rice. Dry cabbage shell.
• Stir together the spinach mixture, chard stems, currants, apricots, pine nuts, parsley, eggs, vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper into rice mixture.
• Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet. Fill cabbage shell with rice mixture. Place on a clean kitchen towel, and gather ends of towel around cabbage, squeezing gently to form a round shape and remove excess liquid. Remove towel, and flip stuffed cabbage, open side down, onto baking sheet. Rub butter over entire surface of cabbage, and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes.
• Drape reserved cabbage leaves over stuffed head, overlapping, to cover. Smooth leaves down and tuck underneath cabbage. Cut into wedges, and serve immediately.

OLD-FASHIONED STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a large saucepan, combine the ground beef with the onion and 2 cloves of the garlic; cook and stir to break up the meat until the beef is browned and the onion and garlic are tender; drain well and set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the beef mixture, the cooked rice, mustard, egg, and salt and pepper until combined.
• Cut out the core end of the cabbage and remove and discard some of the exterior leaves. Then carefully remove 8 whole perfect leaves . Soak the leaves in hot water in a large bowl until they are limp and pliable.
• Chop half of the remaining cabbage and add this to the beef and rice mixture. Roll up about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture in each cabbage leaf. Reserve any remaining meat mixture. At this point, preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Then, in the same large skillet, sauté 2 cloves of garlic in the olive oil until tender, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the tomato puree, diced tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Simmer this sauce for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Then remove and discard the bay leaves.
• Place the stuffed cabbage rolls in a Dutch oven or large casserole. Top the rolls with any remaining meat mixture. Pour the tomato sauce mixture over all.
• Cover the casserole and bake for 80 to 90 minutes or until the cabbage rolls are tender.
• Serve the stuffed cabbage with the sauce. Enjoy.

BEEF & RICE STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

Steps:

• In batches, cook cabbage in boiling water 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain; cool slightly. Trim the thick vein from the bottom of each cabbage leaf, making a V-shaped cut., In a large bowl, combine rice, onion, egg, milk, salt and pepper. Add beef; mix lightly but thoroughly. Place about 1/4 cup beef mixture on each cabbage leaf. Pull together cut edges of leaf to overlap; fold over filling. Fold in sides and roll up., Place 6 rolls in a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker, seam side down. In a bowl, mix sauce ingredients; pour half of the sauce over cabbage rolls. Top with remaining rolls and sauce. Cook, covered, on low 6-8 hours or until a thermometer inserted in beef reads 160° and cabbage is tender.

LAMB AND RICE STUFFED CABBAGE WITH TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to boil and salt it. Add the cabbage leaves to the boiling water a few at a time and cook for 30 seconds to one minute, or until they're just pliable. Carefully remove the leaves from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer to a colander; rinse with cold water. Repeat with the remaining leaves. Gently squeeze the leaves to remove most of the excess water, leaving them just damp enough so they will stick together when rolled.
• Put 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat; when hot, add half the chopped onion and one tablespoon of the garlic, along with the carrot and the parsnip, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl along with the lamb and rice. Mix until just combined.
• Wipe the pan, add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and turn the heat to medium-high. When the oil is hot, add the remaining onion and garlic and cook until soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, red pepper and a good sprinkling of salt; cook over medium-low heat while you prepare the cabbage leaves.
• Cut the cabbage leaves in half by running a sharp knife along each side of the stem, removing the stem in the process; trim the top and bottom so you're left with a large rectangle. Lay a leaf on a work surface with the wide edge facing you. Put a couple tablespoons of the meat mixture in the middle of the leaf, fold in the two sides of the leaf and roll it up as you would a burrito. Repeat with the remaining leaves and filling.
• Add the cabbage rolls, seam side down, to the pot of sauce. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring the sauce occasionally and adding a tablespoon or two of water if the sauce becomes too thick, until the meat and rice are both fully cooked (cut into a roll to check; the rice should be tender and the meat no longer pink), 30 to 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• For the sauce: In a large bowl, combine the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, red chili flakes (if using), brown sugar, and red wine vinegar. With a microplane, grate the clove of garlic into the sauce and stir well to combine. (Alternatively, you can very finely chop the garlic.)
• For the filling: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut out the core from the base of the cabbage and remove the 1-2 outer leaves. Place the cabbage cut side down into the pot of boiling water. As you see leaves naturally start to separate from the head of cabbage, gently coax the leaf off with a pair of tongs and transfer it to a colander set over a bowl. You will need about 14 cabbage leaves. This process takes about 6-8 minutes. Rinse the leaves with cold water until cool enough to handle. Drain well and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel.
• Place the cabbage leaves on a cutting board and make a V-shaped cut at the bottom of each leaf, to cut out the thickest part of the center rib.
• In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, pork, onion, egg, milk or cream, breadcrumbs, rice, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix gently to combine.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch-by-13-inch casserole dish. Ladle 1 cup of sauce into the dish and spread all over. Starting with the largest, outer cabbage leaves, lay each cabbage leaf flat. Take about 1/3 cup of filling and roughly shape it into an oval shape, about 4-inches long. (For some of the larger leaves, use up to ½ cup of filling.) Place the oval in the center a cabbage leaf, just above where the rib was cut. Fold the sides of the cabbage leaf over the filling and roll up into a little bundle (start rolling at the cut side, over into the uncut side). Place seam side down over top of the sauce in the baking dish. Repeat until each cabbage leaf is used. Drizzle the remainder of the sauce all over.
• Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, until the meat is cooked through. Serve with a side of mashed potatoes, if you like.

BRAISED STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Remove the tough central stalk from the cabbage leaves. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the cabbage, then cook for just 1-2 mins until the leaves are starting to wilt. Drain and refresh under cold running water. Drain well, then pat dry with a tea towel.
• Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion, then fry for 5 mins until slightly browned. Add the rosemary and celery, then cook for 8 mins more. Stir in the rice, then cook for a min or so until the grains are glistening. Remove from the heat, stir in the chestnuts and cranberries, then season.
• Spoon a little stuffing onto a cabbage leaf, roll up and fold in the sides to enclose the filling. Put in a single layer in a large, oiled, shallow ovenproof dish with the join underneath. Fill the remaining leaves in the same way. Mix the stock, vinegar and honey, then pour over the cabbage. Cover the dish tightly with foil, bake for 1 hr, uncover, then cook for a further 15 mins.