Today I’m sharing with you a hearty, comforting stuffed cabbage roll soup: it contains all the elements found in a stuffed cabbage roll, but doesn’t come with the lengthy prep and cook time. You throw a bunch of things in a pot and hope for the best, which, sounds like the ideal weeknight dinner meal to me.
To give you some context on how I came up with this recipe, I’ve been recently invited on a podcast to speak about the cuisine I grew up with. I spent an hour and a half talking about Romanian, Hungarian and Eastern European food, which, guess what? Made me crave some of the food I was rambling about during the podcast!
I decided to make stuffed cabbage rolls, an Eastern European staple, bought all the necessary ingredients, then, once I got home, didn’t feel like making them at all. If you’re unfamiliar with this dish, allow me to briefly explain the process: you need a bunch of cabbage leaves, minced meat, and rice. The cabbage leaves, sometimes steamed, sometimes fermented, get stuffed with a mixture of raw meat, spices and rice, they get tightly rolled by hand, then cooked in a saucy tomatoey broth for hours, sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 6, it depends on whoever is making them.
This dish is usually served on special occasions like weddings, birthdays or family gatherings, I’m pretty sure that’s due to the intense amount of labour that goes into making it. Who on Earth would spend hours rolling cabbage leaves and 6 more hours cooking them on a Tuesday afternoon?! People say the smaller the cabbage roll, the better it tastes, therefore, cooks take a huge pride in the size of their cabbage rolls, lol. All cooks besides my mother, she has always been very reckless when it came to cooking and wouldn’t care, nor have the patience to make tiny, bite-size cabbage rolls. They would always taste amazing, as gimongous as they were! She used to make ones stuffed with a mushroom filling, those were my absolute favorite growing up. I need to get a hold of that recipe, I’ll share it with you as soon as I do.
Long story short, I found myself having all these ingredients for making cabbage rolls, yet no patience to actually make them. I decided to dump all ingredients in a pot and make a hot, comforting soup instead. It turned out amazing, so amazing you won’t be able to stop yourself from going for another serving, I’ll tell you that. If you happen to have sauerkraut around, it would be a great addition to the soup. I skipped adding it to the ingredient list, just for the sake of keeping things as simple as possible, but if you already have it in your fridge, throw some in there, you won’t regret it. I genuinely thought I invented this crazy smart mash-up of dishes, but it turns out, as always, someone has already made this before I did. How did I not know this was a thing? Regardless, can’t wait to see all your versions of this hearty soup!
RECIPE
Servings: 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 to 70 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 lb or 500 grams ground beef, preferably 80% lean 20% fat
1 head of garlic, top cut off
1 bunch of fresh parsley
2 teaspoons coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne, more or less to taste
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon fennel
4 cups beef, chicken or vegetable stock
4 cups water
1/2 medium cabbage, chopped into bite-size pieces, about 3 to 4 cups
1/2 to 1 cup rice, preferably long-grain rice, washed
1/8 to 1/4 cup vinegar, to taste, apple cider, rice, or white wine vinegar will do the job
Salt, lots of it
Oil, for sautéing
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR:
tomato paste: 1 can whole tomatoes
minced beef: sausage meat, any other minced meat (chicken, turkey, etc.), vegan minced meat, minced mushrooms (preferably a mix of mushrooms), or simply skip adding anything instead
of course, not adding meat will affect the overall taste and flavor of this soup, but it’ll still be delicious as long as you season everything properly (don’t be afraid to use extra spices or additions like soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, etc.)
stock: stock cubes or water
INSTRUCTIONS
Place a 4 qt (or larger pot) on medium heat. Heat up two to three tablespoons of oil for 2 to 3 minutes. Toss in the onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the mix of vegetables looks softened. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Move the veggies to the side of the pot, drizzle more oil and crumble in the beef (or beef substitute). Sear the meat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until it develops a dark brown caramelized crust. Mix the spices and roughly flip the meat on its other side. Sear for 2 to 3 more minutes.
Pour the stock, water, add a big pinch of salt, garlic head and fresh parsley. Simmer the soup for 25 to 30 minutes on medium heat. During this time, you might notice some foam on top. This happens due to bringing meat to a rapid boil, causing meat proteins to break down and float to the top. Feel free to skim off the foam.
After 25 to 30 minutes, fish out the garlic head and parsley. Add the rice and cabbage and simmer the soup for 10 to 15 more minutes. Taste as you go and add more salt as needed. Turn off the heat and mix in the vinegar, start with a smaller amount, taste, and add more as needed.
Hearty Cabbage Roll Soup