Polish-Style Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

This is an excellent way to use up a head of cabbage, and ground beef. I have always thought of cabbage rolls as being Polish, but for anyone on a low-carb diet it would work as an excellent main dish served with a salad. That’s how I served it! It’s also versatile in that you can use beef, pork, turkey or whatever ground meat you wish. Even make it with vegetables, or just bring your own ideas to it. This recipe serves 4. Enjoy!

What you’ll need:
500g or 1lb ground beef, turkey, or pork
1 small onion
1 head of cabbage; about 10 large outer leaves
1 tbsp. garlic puree or 3-4 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
¼ green pepper
2 tbsp. tomato puree
1 tbsp. dill
1 tbsp. thyme
1 tbsp. vegetable granules (bouillon cubes will work)
1 tbsp. olive oil

To start the sauce:
Dice the onion, celery and mince garlic.
In a small sauce pan, heat the oil. Once heated add the onion celery and garlic until softened.
Next add the tomatoes and stew down for about 20 minutes while you gather the rest of your ingredients.

Next:
Tear the outer leaves of the cabbage and wash them thoroughly and steam them until soft enough to roll. You could alternatively lightly boil these too.

To make the filling:
Dice the onions and peppers finely.
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl, beef, onion, peppers, garlic, tomato puree, dill, thyme, salt, pepper, vegetable granules until well incorporated.

To finish:
Take a cabbage leaf and place a small ball inside and spread it out length-wise, wrap it up on the ends and roll it.
Place it in the pan opening side down, and repeat until the meat is gone.
Pour the sauce over the top, trying to cover as much as you can.
Cover tightly with foil and bake at 190C or 350F for about 45 minutes.

*For an added treat, mix garlic and mint with Greek yogurt for a special topping (sour cream would also work good here)