Lebanese Stuffed Cabbage

This is not a last minute kind of dish. The Lebanese Stuffed Cabbage recipe takes a little planning but it is worth it!

Kiki’s trick is to put a layer of roasted chicken wings has a few advantages; it prevents the bottom cabbage leaves from burning and it adds an incredible depth of flavor to this recipe. The dish will cook in its own chicken and meat stock. How wonderful is that?
Thank you Mom. Merci Kiki!

Lebanese Stuffed Cabbage

Recipe credits: Rafaella Sargi
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 whole cabbage head (5 lb 5 oz / 2.5 kg) *see note on cabbage*
2 lb (1 kg) chicken wings (around 20 pieces in total)
Sea salt
1 lb 1 oz (600 g) ground beef
1 cup medium grain rice
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
10 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons dried mint
1/4 cup lemon juice
Plain yogurt for serving

Directions
The day before: Remove the two or three outer leaves of the cabbage head and discard them. Rinse the whole cabbage and shake a little bit to remove the water. Pat dry then seal with food safe plastic wrap. Let it sit in the freezer for 12 hours.

Remove from the freezer and let it completely thaw overnight… This is a very important and useful step; the freeze + defreeze technique makes the cabbage leaves soft. No need to boil the vegetable: kitchen mess avoided!

Prep all the ingredients.

You will need one baking sheet lined with parchment paper, a medium sized pot with a lid (any size works, just make sure all the cabbage rolls fit in!), a strainer, food safe gloves, a small container for the extra sauce, a semi-shallow serving dish larger than the pot used.

Heat the oven to 425 F / 220 C.

Place the chicken wings on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and bake in a hot oven for 35 minutes or until golden. Set aside.

While the chicken wings are cooking, place the rice in a colander and rinse it under running water. Set aside and let it drain for a few minutes. In a medium bow, mix the rinsed rice with the ground beef, 1/2 teaspoon of allspice, 1 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1 Tablespoon on vegetable oil. Combine all the ingredients well. The stuffing mixture is ready,… set aside.

Separate the soft cabbage leaves trying to keep them as big and whole as possible. Cabbage leaves have central stalks. Using a small sharp knife, remove that hard part from each leave. Technically, each whole leaf will give you two separate ones, that you can stuff and roll. They won’t all have the same size,… it’s normal.

This is a good time to put your gloves on! Take one cabbage leave and place it in front of you, put a little bit of the rice-meat-mixture on the edge of the cabbage leaf and roll like you would roll a cigar. Keep the ends open (no need to tuck them in). Do not stuff the leaves too much because the rice will expand once cooked and you don’t want to end up with rice all over the place. It should stay IN the cabbage leaves that you are rolling with love and patience! Place the stuffed cabbage roll on a plate and repeat with the remaining leaves and mixture.

Great news! You survived the hardest part of the recipe. I promise,… your patience will be rewarded. It’s assembly time.

Place the roasted chicken wings, in a single layer on the bottom of the pot. Lay the stuffed cabbage rolls on top of the chicken wings in one single complete layer (you should not be able to see the chicken wings nor the bottom of the pot). Repeat forming a second layer placing the rolls in a different pattern / position than the previous layer. Keep in mind that you will flip the pot content for serving… it is like you are building a lego structure… make it solid, vary the angles! ;)

After two layers of cabbage rolls, insert a couple of garlic cloves and sprinkle a little of the dried mint, then repeat layering the rolls, garlic and dried mint steps until all your beautiful cabbage rolls are in.

Fill the pot with water to the top of the cabbage. Put a plate or something to weigh down on the cabbage rolls that will keep the leaves submerged and in place while cooking**. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium-low and cover. Let it cook for 45 minutes. Add the lemon juice and cook for 15 minutes more. Taste one of the cabbage rolls to see if the rice is cooked through and the leaves are soft… Cover back and let it cook more until the leaves are completely soft, melting in your mouth.

You will be tasting one of the top rolls, keep in mind that all the others underneath are better! More cooked and softer. So, if the top one is great the rest is amazing! ;)

Take out from the heat and very carefully try to tilt the pot and remove a little bit of the cooking juices. Put this sauce in a bowl. You do this to avoid being splashed with boiling liquid when flipping the content of the pot into the serving plate. Choose a semi shallow serving dish, larger than the pot. Place it upside down on the pot. Carefully hold both the pot and plate and flip them over. You will end up with the plate on the bottom and the pot (upside down) on top. Carefully slide up and remove the pot. Ta da!!

Serve immediately with the sauce and plain yogurt on the side.

Picture note: I forgot to sprinkle the dried mint when layering the rolled cabbage in this set of pictures. If it happens to you too, just addd the mint on top and the cooking process while distribute the mint throughout the dish. Don’t worry ;)

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*Note on Cabbage: There are many varieties of cabbage. The one we used in Lebanon looks similar to the “flat cabbage” but is impossible to find in Miami. I use the very commonly available “round cabbage” also known as ball-head cabbage. Both types are great for this recipe.

**I usually choose something that can’t break and that won’t chip.