Greek Stuffed Cabbage Leaves (Lahanodolmades)–

1 Cabbage with soft leaves
1 white onion
1 cup Beef Mincemeat
¼ cup rice
Bunch of Parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

1/4 cup minced dill

1/4 cup of minced mint

For the Avgolemono (Egg and Lemon) Sauce:

2 eggs
1 lemon
3 spoonfuls Olive Oil

salt and pepper to taste

Prep of Cabbage:

Cutting to the centre of the cabbage with a sharp knife, remove the heart and discard it.

Boil the cabbage in salted water for 5 minutes in a large, heavy pot.

After removing the cabbage, remove the leaves one at a time and place them flat on a large dish. If you have difficulty separating the leaves, dip the cabbage into the boiling water again until you have removed them all individually. Please note, the leaves need to be soaked but still quite firm.

Allow the leaves to cool.

Do not throw away the water – you will need it later.

Prep of the meat and rice mixture:

fry the onions lightly in the olive oil.

Add the rice and the meat to the pan. Do that for 3-4 minutes then add the mint, parsley and dill.  Add in your salt and pepper. Then remove from heat.

Making the stuffed cabbage leaves (Lahanodolmades):

Cutting the larger cabbage leaves in half, remove the stem. Place 1 teaspoonful of the mincemeat & rice mixture in the middle of each half leaf and fold the leaf around it to form a small rectangular “package”. With the smaller cabbage leaves you don’t need to cut them in a half, but just use the whole leaf.

Place enough whole boiled cabbage leaves in a shallow pan to cover the bottom.

Place the prepared lahanodolmades next to each other on top of the cabbage leaves in the pan. Make sure that the folded side is underneath.

Once you have completed one layer, start a second layer. Try to place the lahanodolmades in the second layer on top of the gaps between those in the bottom layer. If necessary, add a third layer.

Finally, cover them with some more whole boiled cabbage leaves.

Add enough of the water you used to boil the cabbage to cover all of the lahanodolmades.

Placing a heavy dish on top of the pan, bring them to the boil and then simmer for 45 minutes.

Preparing the Avgolemono (Egg and Lemon) Sauce:

Beat the eggs in a bowl and make sure you whisk to make them nice and fluffy. Do that for a few minutes then add in slowly the lemon juice and whisk. The important part to this sauce is that you make sure you don’t curd the eggs once you mix the egg mixture and the hot sauce. So in order to do so, you will take 1 cup of the sauce add quickly mix it into the egg mixture. Then keep whisking and do that two more times with the hot sauce. Once your egg mixture looks all mixed with 3 cups of sauce add it into the cabbage rolls. I will say to you KALI OREXI: means Enjoy your meal. 🙂