Tag: bittman

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Place the cabbage in the boiling water and cook, turning it in the pot once or twice, until it begins to get tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the cabbage (do not pour out the water) and rinse the leaves with cool water to stop the cooking. Pull off the 10 largest, most intact leaves, then chop the remaining leaves and put them in a large bowl. Return the pot to a boil and stir in the rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes then drain.

Add the cooked rice, raw ground beef, scallions, peppers, jalapeño, garlic, and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper to the bowl of chopped cabbage and mix just enough to combine. Put a large spoonful of the rice mixture into a cabbage leaf, taking care not to overfill, and roll loosely. Shoot for 8 cabbage rolls, but if you have extra filling use more of the leaves. Put the rolls seam side down in the bottom of a large pot or dutch oven; it's okay to stack them on top of each other in the pot.

Add the tomatoes and their juice to the pot along with 1 cup of water, the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves, and some salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat so that the mixture barely bubbles and cook, undisturbed, for 30 minutes. Check to see if there's still liquid in the pot. The cabbage should be just submerged; if not, add a little water. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes before checking again.

When the rolls have plumped up and absorbed most of the liquid, and are firm, turn off the heat and let rest, for at least 10 minutes. Put the rolled cabbage in shallow bowls, removing the whole spices as your find them. Taste the pot juices and adjust seasoning as needed. Pour a big ladleful over the cabbage rolls and serve.