Comforting cabbage rolls to honor the culture of Ukraine. Cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of ground meat, rice, carrots and mushrooms. Topped with a creamy tomato sauce, these rolls will fill you with love.
I want to send the war-besieged country of Ukraine one small message of love and hope for peace.
The Heart Wrenching War on Ukraine
As I write this, Russia is bombing Ukraine, killing children, destroying homes and threatening any country that deems to help them with nuclear warfare. It’s heart wrenching, unbelievable. How could anyone be so selfish and cruel? Over a million refugees have fled the country so far. While the Ukrainian men stay to defend their homeland, I read the news from here in my quiet neighborhood in the US and it seems so unfair. So unjust. I wonder what I can do to help?
As I so often do, I turn to cooking to ease my sorrow. I want to honor the beautiful culture of Ukraine as they fight to defend their homes and their loved ones. So I went searching for a Ukrainian comfort food recipe. And I found Holubtsi: Ukrainian stuffed cabbage leaves, a word I did not know before today.
But I have a feeling I will be making these little packets of love often. It seems so fitting that I have all the ingredients I need to make them. Like somehow I knew just what I’d need. Although this was not a planned event. I bought the cabbage for St. Patty’s Day. This year, a Ukrainian recipe seems so much more fitting.
I wish I could send these little bites of comfort to the people in Ukraine that so desparately need help right now. And I’m sad that I cannot. With tears in my eyes, I taste this little bit of Ukraine. And I hope for their future.
How can we Send Relief to Ukraine?
While this war seems so devastating, it’s easy to sit by and think we are helpless. But those of us with public voices (like bloggers and content creators) can speak out against the violence. For the rest of us, there are lots of nonprofits that are taking up the challenge of sending what support we can to the Ukrainian people.
Here are some of the brave organizations who are working to provide relief to Ukraine. Because all of us around the world can help pitch in, in whatever way we can:
- Razom for Ukraine – A nonprofit company in Ukraine that has been working to build Ukrainian democracy since 2014. Razom means “together” in Ukrainian. This nonprofit is responding to the attacks on Ukraine by providing critical medical supplies and amplifying the voices of Ukrainians.
- Doctors Without Borders is partnering with volunteers in Ukraine to help people travel to health-care facilities and working to ensure that people have access to health care and medicine.
- CARE is providing food, water, and more to the families in Ukraine that are fleeing violence.
- International Rescue Committee is sending vital supplies to displaced children and families.
- CNN has created a consolidated giving page where you can simply donate and they will send the money to organizations that are helping Ukraine. Money is given to one of 34 different nonprofit organizations.
- Refrain from buying any Russian products.
There are so many more … I cannot list them all! But I found this helpful list at the Washington Post that provides even more options.
I call on my fellow bloggers and content creators to create at least one post dedicated to helping Ukraine.
Additionally, we can honor the Ukrainian people by celebrating their rich and beautiful culture. Let’s make some cabbage rolls.
Holubtsi (Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: About 24 cabbage rolls 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Ukrainian
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Comforting Ukrainian cabbage rolls stuffed with ground meat, mushrooms, onions, and carrot and topped with a creamy tomato sauce.
Ingredients
- About 12 large cabbage leaves
- 3 Tablespoons uncooked rice (I used basmati)
- About 1 Tablespoon avocado oil, divided
- 1/2 of a red onion, chopped
- 2 – 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 oz. fresh mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 oz. baby carrots (or peeled whole carrots), finely chopped or grated
- 1/2 lb. lean raw ground beef, chicken or pork
- Fresh dill, snipped, or dried dill
- 1 pint jar (or larger) of vodka sauce (creamy tomato sauce – recipe here or use store bought)
Instructions
- Soften the cabbage leaves by dipping each one in boiled water for a few seconds. Set them on a plate or clean towel and set aside.
- In a small saucepan, heat about 1/2 cup of water with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, stir in the rice, reduce heat to low and partly cook the rice, stopping after 7 minutes. Drain off any excess water and put rice in a medium mixing bowl.
- While the rice is cooking, in a small frying pan over medium heat, add a bit of oil, then saute the onions until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and mushrooms, salt and tomato paste. Cover and let cook until the mushrooms are tender. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the rice.
- Add a little more oil to the pan and saute the carrots a few minutes to soften them. Add about half the carrots to the bowl. Then add the ground meat to the bowl and mix up the filling, sprinkling with dill as you go. Add some freshly ground pepper too.
- To assemble, cut the rib from each cabbage leaf, leaving two sides. Put about 2 Tablespoons of the filling onto the leaf and roll up into a cone shape, then tuck the ends in on the top to seal. Repeat until all the filling is used.
- Set the cabbage rolls in a casserole or Dutch oven, layering if needed to fit them all. Mix the rest of the carrots into the sauce, then pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls, making sure all the rolls are fully covered.
- Cover the pan and bake at 350 F. for about an hour or until the filling is completely cooked. Serve sprinkled with extra dill.
Notes
Use Polish, Swedish or American vodka in the sauce … anything BESIDES Russian vodka!
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2022, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Keywords: Cabbage, Ukrainian, Beef, Chicken, Pork
Ukrainian Recipes & Culture
To find more ways to honor Ukraine and celebrate their culture, visit these posts from my fellow bloggers:
- Grow some sunflowers (the Ukraine national flower) with this guide to growing sunflowers
- Try your hand at Paska (Ukrainian Easter Bread)
- Warm up with some Borscht (Ukrainian Beet Soup)
Pretty yellow sunflowers open and looking at the sun
More Cabbage Recipes
Need some inspiration for using up the rest of the cabbage?
- Creamy Mushroom, Corn & Cabbage Casserole
- Cabbage Roll Soup
- Creamy Havarti Cabbage Soup with cheddar croutons
- Colcannon with Red Onion & Bacon
- Irish Ale Corned Beef & Butter Braised Cabbage
- Mushroom & Cabbage Breakfast Skillet
3 comments
[…] there. And I very very much want to help the Ukrainian people. I wrote a blog post and ate Ukrainian cabbage rolls all last week. I reached out to other bloggers to ask them to use their voice to call for peace. […]
Something is missing-what is the sauce? You used up the tomato paste
Hello,
Thank you for asking! For the sauce, I used my creamy vodka sauce (it’s the last ingredient on the list). You can use my recipe (https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/creamy-good-vodka-sauce/) or use a store-bought vodka sauce.
Have fun making the cabbage rolls!
Ann