I’ve been ketofying my recipes and made this on Saturday.
Cabbage Rolls
Makes about 24
1 head medium cabbage
½ cup salt
1 cup white distilled vinegar
3 lbs. ground meat
1 onion, chopped in processor
6 garlic cloves, chopped in processor
1 spicy pepper (if you want some heat)
¼ cup fresh oregano and thyme
4 tbsp roasted red pepper spread (ajvar), or harissa
4 tbsp paprika
Salt & pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes
1 cup Olive oil
4 cups Chicken broth
This recipe starts with pickled cabbage. Core a medium head of cabbage and place in a container that has a lid, core facing up. I use the plastic Tupperware that used to hold my 5 lb bag of flour. Dissolve ½ cup salt in a couple cups of boiling water. Pour the salted water over the cabbage. Pour 1 cup white distilled vinegar over cabbage and fill the rest of the container with cold water. Make sure the cabbage is weighted down so that it doesn’t float above the liquid. Cover and set in a cool dark spot in your home. It takes about 5 days (give or take a day) to pickle the cabbage. It will look yellowish when it’s ready. The leaves will be soft and pliable.
Heat a large skillet on med heat and add the oil you’re going to use. I use olive oil. Add 3 lbs of ground meat and salt & pepper. I grind my own chicken thighs (we don’t like the ground chicken or turkey we buy from the store). You can use beef, lamb, pork or any combo you’d like. I find 3 lbs of meat will fill all/most of the cabbage leaves.
Chop up all the veggies you want to use. I use almost two cups total. Feel free to use any keto veggies you like. I run the onions and garlic in a food processor. Add veggies to meat and continue to cook. Add the fresh herbs (or dried if you like, I happen to have a garden full at this time). Add the paprika. If you want some heat, add red pepper flakes. The meat and veggies should be getting nice and browned at this point.
Add 2 tbsp roasted red pepper spread to the meat and mix it in. I make and can my own every fall. The one they have at Trader Joe’s is not bad (red pepper and eggplant spread). This spread is also called ajvar, they have it at some grocery stores and at World Market. Harissa is also a good substitute. I’ve even used roasted red peppers from a jar and just put them in the food processor to make a spread.
Set meat aside to cool a bit.
This makes a lot of cabbage rolls. I use two covered pans. I grease the pans with olive oil and add about a cup of chicken broth to the bottom of each pan. Then I add 1 tbsp of the roasted red pepper spread to each pan. Mix it up and set aside. It makes a nice bath for the cabbage rolls.
Drain and rinse the cabbage. Start pulling off the leaves, one by one and stack them. About half way through, you might need to cut the core again. When I make cabbage rolls, I try to keep the similar sizes in each pan.
Now you’re ready to assemble. I use about 3-4 spoons of filling in the large leaves and about 1-3 in the smaller leaves. To fill, I lay the leaf flat on the cutting board, spoon the filling toward the bottom of the leave. Fold the bottom up, then each side and then roll, kind of like a burrito. Pack tightly in the pans until you run out of the filling/leaves.
If you find you have leftover filling and/or leaves, you can just sprinkle the meat on top of the cabbage rolls. The leaves can be chopped up or just rolled up empty. Add additional broth so that the cabbage rolls are covered halfway up the side.
Drizzle the tops with lots of olive oil and season with salt and lots of pepper. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 ½ - 2 hours. Check them after 1 ½ hour, they should start getting browned. I bake on convection and do the full 2 hours.
These do take me just over an hour to prepare. It’s a labor of love and they are so worth it. They are super tasty and flavorful. I usually make them on the weekend and the leftovers are even better. My original recipe has tomatoes and rice but I’ve been making some adjustments to fit our new WOE. I made these on Saturday and everyone agreed these are even better than before. We serve tomatoes with feta as a side.
When I put in ingredients in the recipe analyzer, these are about 3.3 net carbs each.