Holubtsi

Ukraine's cabbage rolls of pork and rice or buckwheat, braised under a tomato and soured cream sauce until the leaves turn translucent

Origin: Kyiv & the Dnieper

From the journey of Cabbage.

Holubtsi means little pigeons, from holub, a dove, and Ukrainian etymologists generally take the name from the shape: a plump parcel about the size of a small bird. Fresh cabbage leaves are blanched until they will bend, rolled around minced pork with rice or buckwheat, packed into a pot, and braised for an hour and a half under a sauce of tomato and soured cream until the leaves go translucent and the rolls take up the fat. Ukraine makes them with fresh cabbage rather than the soured heads of the western Balkans, which is the clearest single difference between holubtsi and Serbian sarma. The other is the sauce: tomato and soured cream together, poured over rather than cooked around smoked meat, giving a paler, tangier, less smoky pot. Western Ukraine, closer to the Carpathians, does use soured leaves in winter and rolls smaller; the Poltava and Dnieper versions are larger and unsoured. The grain inside is a live regional distinction. Buckwheat, hrechka, is the older filling and remains the standard through the north and the Polissia forests, whilst rice took over the centre and south from the nineteenth century. A buckwheat holubets is nuttier and coarser and holds its texture over a long braise; a rice one swells softer. Cooks who use buckwheat tend to be firm that it is the correct one. Holubtsi belong to the twelve meatless dishes of the Ukrainian Christmas Eve Sviata Vecheria, in which case they are filled with buckwheat or mushrooms and rice and dressed with oil rather than cream, and they belong equally to weddings and funerals, where the meat version is made by the hundred. Ukrainian emigration carried them to the Canadian prairies, where they are known by the Polish-derived name cabbage rolls and are a fixture of Manitoba and Saskatchewan church suppers.

Ingredients

Wrappers

1 large white cabbage, about 1.5kg

Filling

600 g minced pork, not too lean
150 g rice or buckwheat groats, rinsed
2 onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely grated
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp dill, chopped

Sauce

1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
3 tbsp tomato purée
400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
250 ml soured cream
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp sugar

To serve

4 tbsp soured cream, to serve
2 tbsp dill, chopped, to serve

Method

Cut the core out of the cabbage in a deep cone and lower the whole head into boiling water.
Peel the outer leaves away with tongs as they soften, two or three at a time, and keep going until you have about eighteen. Blanching the whole head rather than separating the leaves first is what keeps them from tearing.
Pare the thick rib at the base of each leaf flat with a knife so the leaf will roll without cracking.
Parboil the rice for five minutes and drain, or if using buckwheat, rinse it and leave it raw.
Soften the two chopped onions and the grated carrot in the oil for ten minutes, then cool.
Mix the pork with the grain, cooled vegetables, salt, pepper, and dill.
Put two tablespoons of filling near the base of each leaf, fold the sides in, and roll up firmly, leaving a little slack for the grain to swell.
Make the sauce: soften the remaining onion and carrot in a little oil, stir in the tomato purée and cook it for two minutes, then add the tinned tomatoes, stock, bay, peppercorns, and sugar and bring to a simmer.
Whisk the soured cream with a ladleful of the hot sauce to temper it, then stir it back in off the heat. Adding cold cream straight to a boiling pan will split it.
Line a deep casserole with the torn and leftover leaves, pack the rolls in seam side down in tight layers, and pour the sauce over so they are just covered.
Cover and cook at 160°C for an hour and a half, until the leaves are translucent and a roll gives no resistance to a knife.
Rest for twenty minutes, then serve with more soured cream and dill spooned over.

Notes

Blanch the head whole and peel the leaves off as they soften; separating them cold tears them. Pare the ribs flat. Buckwheat goes in raw and rice goes in half cooked, since rice fully cooked before rolling turns to paste over ninety minutes. Temper the soured cream with hot sauce before it meets the pot. Line the base with spare leaves so the bottom layer cannot catch. Roll with a little slack. For the Christmas Eve version, leave the pork out entirely and fill with buckwheat and fried mushrooms, dressing with oil rather than cream. They reheat better than they cook fresh.

The Gastrographer

Name: Holubtsi
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 1 h 45 min
Total time: 2 h 25 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Kyiv & the Dnieper
Ingredients: 1 large white cabbage, about 1.5kg; 600 g minced pork, not too lean; 150 g rice or buckwheat groats, rinsed; 2 onions, finely chopped; 1 carrot, coarsely grated; 3 tbsp sunflower oil; 1.5 tsp salt; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 tbsp dill, chopped; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 carrot, grated; 3 tbsp tomato purée; 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes; 250 ml soured cream; 500 ml chicken or vegetable stock; 2 bay leaves; 6 black peppercorns; 1 tsp sugar; 4 tbsp soured cream, to serve; 2 tbsp dill, chopped, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control