[senior citizen]

　
UKRAINIAN CABBAGE ROLLS * HOLUBSTI


　
1 medium to med. large sized head of cabbage
3 medium onions chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 lb. ground pork (ask butcher to grind up piece of pork)
1/2 pound ground beef
2 cups long grain white rice for one medium cabbage
1 19 oz can tomato juice*
4 tsp. salt
ground black pepper


Remove the core, and steam the cabbage. When steaming the cabbage don't over-do it--just long enough so the leaves will separate easily.


Fry onions in butter until they are transparent.


Parboil the rice in a little water (just to cover the rice) and bring to a low simmer.


Watch carefully - just until water is absorbed. The rice will still be a little 'hard'. It will soften up during baking of the cabbage rolls


Put the rice into a bowl.........


Add raw ground pork, beef, and fried onions. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Grease a roaster (a small covered enameled roaster works well, but a covered casserole dish should be just fine) with a little oil and cover the bottom and sides of the roaster with the outer cabbage leaves.

If you have a DEEP WHITE CORNING RECTANGULAR BAKING CASSEROLE DISH, that will be good. Same thing.........cover the bottom & sides of the baking dish with the outer cabbage leaves.


Roll the meat/rice/onion filling into an inner cabbage leaf to make a roll.
The inner leaves are the more tender leaves.


Place cabbage rolls in roaster, fitting them snugly together with the seam on the bottom to prevent unrolling.


Rolls can be placed in layers to fill the roaster.


When the rolls are all in place, pour the tomato juice on top.


Note: It is not necessary to use a whole can of tomato juice; it may boil over in the oven. A cookie tray under the roaster to catch any overflow is a good idea.


　
Cover all of the cabbage rolls with left over cabbage leaves.


Cover the roaster, then bake in the oven at 400° F for 30 minutes........


Then lower the oven to 350° for 1 to 1-1/2 hours MORE of slow baking.


Serve with good rye bread

It's a meal in one with the veggie, rice, meat........


p.s. THE SAUCE CAN BE CRUSHED TOMATOES or TOMATO JUICE or some even use TOMATO SOUP, DILUTED.

You can also use ONE POUND OF GROUND BEEF or
ONE POUND OF GROUND PORK