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Acabbage roll is a dish consisting of cookedcabbage leaves wrapped around a variety offillings. It is common to the cuisines ofCentral,Eastern andSoutheastern Europe and much ofWestern Asia,Northern China, and parts ofNorth Africa.Meat fillings are traditional in Europe, and includebeef,lamb, orpork seasoned withgarlic,onion, and spices.Grains such asrice andbarley,mushrooms, and vegetables are often included as well. Fermented cabbage leaves are used for wrapping, particularly in southeastern Europe. In Asia, seafood, tofu, andshiitake mushrooms may also be used.Chinese cabbage is often used as a wrapping.
Cabbage leaves are stuffed with the filling and thenbaked,simmered, orsteamed in a covered pot and generally eaten warm, often accompanied with asauce. The sauce varies widely by cuisine. In Sweden and Finland, stuffed cabbage is served withlingonberry jam, which is both sweet and tart. In Central and Eastern Europe,tomato-based sauces and sour cream are typical. In Lebanon, the cabbage is stuffed with rice and minced meat and only rolled to the size of a cigar. It is usually served with a side dish ofyogurt and a type of lemon and olive oilvinaigrette seasoned with garlic and dried mint.
The cabbage roll is a staple inRomanian cuisine, with variations of the recipe and sizing depending on the region, but typically taking up to six hours to cook. Traditionally made with pork, beef, bacon, rice, spices and aromatics, the cabbage rolls are broiled in a tomato sauce and served withpolenta, sour cream and spicy pickled peppers.
Cooking textbook author Nancy Krcek stated that the origins of the dish are unclear and that it is possible multiple groups of people invented it at the same time.[1] Another cooking book author, Malgorzata Caprari, stated it is believed that credit is owed to the poorer inhabitants of Central and Eastern European countries. Due to the widespread cultivation of cabbage in these regions, it is likely that the cultures who inhabited them were the original inventors of this dish.[2]
Cabbage rolls have found their way into popular culture, becoming one of the most recognizable dishes in Central and Eastern European cuisine. They often appear in literature and films as a symbol of homey comfort and tradition.
A version calledholishkes is traditionally eaten by Jews onSimchat Torah.[3] Recipes vary depending on region; for example, northern Poles prefer a savory sauce, while Galicia, Hungary and Ukraine favor sweet-and-sour.[3]
In Asia, cabbage rolls have been adapted into various regional cuisines. In China, they are sometimes prepared with a filling of minced pork, shrimp, and vegetables, seasoned with soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil, then steamed or simmered in a light broth. A similar dish exists in Japan, known asロールキャベツ (rōru kyabetsu), often stuffed with ground meat and simmered in a tomato-based or dashi broth.
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InArmenian cuisine, cabbage rolls are stuffed withbeans and tart fruits. It is wrapped with cabbage leaves, and stuffed withred beans,chickpeas,lentils,cracked wheat,tomato paste,onion and multiple spices, mostly the spice mix ofchaimen, which is also used to coatbasturma.[9] Cabbage rolls are calledPasuts tolma (պասուց տոլմա; Lenten dolma) inArmenian where they are made of seven different grains – chickpea, bean, lentil, cracked wheat, pea, rice and maize.[10] Armenian cooks sometimes userose hip syrup orgrape syrup to flavor stuffed cabbage rolls.[11]
Stuffed cabbage leaves (Azerbaijani:kələm dolması;Turkish:lahana dolması) are popular all year in Azerbaijan and Turkey, but especially in winter when other vegetables are less plentiful. The stuffing usually consists of rice and herbs such as coriander, mint and dill, onions and meat, although there is a variation,yalançı dolma (Azerbaijani),yalancı dolma (Turkish) ("fake"dolma), which is meat-free.[12]
Cabbage rolls are a culinary standard inTurkey,Bulgaria,Greece,North Macedonia,Albania,Serbia,Montenegro,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia,Slovenia andRomania. They are traditionally made with leaves of brined cabbage stuffed with ground beef, pork and rice, while meat can also be omitted or substituted with crushed walnuts, pine nuts and raisins. InRomania and parts ofGreece, cabbage rolls are a favorite dish during Christmas time and other non-fasting holidays. In some countries, such asSerbia, cabbage rolls are traditionally simmered at length in a paprika-based sauce with chunks of smoked bacon.
Withsarmale being the national dish of Romania, there are different variations and sizing depending on the region.Sarmale are Romanian stuffed cabbage rolls traditionally served onChristmas andNew Year's Eve but also served throughout the year at weddings, baptism parties, and other large celebrations. It is considered a winter dish and starts with the orthodox celebration of St. Ignatie day – Preparing the Pig, when Romanians traditionally slaughter the pigs for Christmas. Ground pork or beef is mixed with sauteed caramelized onions and rice, stuffed in a cabbage leaf, pickled sauerkraut leaf or grape leaf. For flavor, they usually consist of layers with bacon, smoked ribs, or smoked sausage. Seasoned with spices and aromatics, it is traditionally served withpolenta, sour cream and pickled spicy peppers.
Töltött káposzta, the traditional Hungarian cabbage roll, can be made from sweet or sauerkraut cabbage leaves filled with a mixture of minced pork meat (or sometimesturkey), eggs, onions, and rice seasoned with caraway, salt, and pepper. InTransylvania andAlföld regions, it is calledtakart. The Hungarian version often contains mincedpaprika and is served withsour cream on top. It used to be seasoned with saffron. Many Hungarians serve this food during Christmas and New Year's Eve, although it is a common dish throughout the year (a sweet version during summer and fall, and a sour version during winter and spring). The sour stuffed cabbage is part of the traditional Hungarian pig slaughter menu and it is said that eating this during the holiday season will bring wealth and health for the new year.
There are many regional variations: inKárpátalja and Nyírség, for example, they make small töltött káposzta for weddings.[13]
Although the rolling up of cabbages was first mentioned in the 1695 book ofMiklós Tótfalusi Kis, a similar dish,káposztás hús (not to be confused withszékelykáposzta), was known long before it.
Káposztás hús was very popular. This traditional cabbage stew had a special significance toHungarian people. The 17th-century manuscript cookbook of theCsáktornya court, written sometime before 1662, begins its list of dishes with the phrase, "The cabbage meat is the coat of arms of Hungary". "In the old days, there was no dish more suitable for Hungarians than cabbage", saidPéter Apor, praising it as the meal of the lords. Around 1730,Mátyás Bél also called "Cabbage with bacon, the coat of arms of Hungary". Lippay also calls it the "coat of arms of Hungary" and states thatHungarian people cannot live without it.Kelemen Mikes, when traveling toTurkey, also writes back, "The beautifully written letter pleases the mind, as does these cabbages with dill and sour cream". Mikes also finds it fitting for a coat of arms: "Even if I had no other praise to say about it, is it not enough to say that it is the Transylvanian coat of arms?"
The cabbage roll itself also appears as a motif in the culture. InZsigmond Móricz's short story "Tragedy", the protagonist János Kis dies while eating stuffed cabbage, of which he had vowed to eat fifty.
Stuffed cabbage rolls are a popular Polish dish. Pork and beef mixed with rice or barley are nestled in a cabbage leaf and cooked in the oven or on the stove until tender.
The cabbage rolls are calledgołąbki in Polish,holubky by Czechs and Slovaks, orsarma /сарма by Serbs, Croatians and Bulgarians. The sauce is often the main difference in regional variations.In a less popular version calledleniwe gołąbki (lazy cabbage rolls) the ingredients are chopped, combined and baked or fried.
In Ukraine, the filling ofholubtsi varies throughout the country. In theCarpathian region corn grits are used, whereas in thePoltava areabuckwheat groats are preferred. The cereal is lightly cooked, mixed with friedonions,shkvarky (pork cracklings) or raw minced meat. The mixture is combined with spices and seasonings, and is then used as the filling for steamed fresh or pickled cabbage leaves. In spring cabbage leaves are often replaced with freshbeetroot leaves, and in the southwest – with fresh young grape leaves. Theholubtsi are lightly fried and then stewed with sour cream, or tomato, mushroom or some other sauce. DuringLenten periods this might be water mixed withkvas, while at other times it might be a meat broth.
InLeft Bank Ukraine and in the south,holubtsi are usually big, made from the entire cabbage leaf, while in theDniester region and the Carpathians the cabbage leaf is divided into several pieces. In the latter regions, cooks who made large holubtsi were considered lazy. In Poltava cooks preferred the large holubtsi because they were juicier. In most of Ukraine holubtsi were an everyday dish, but in most ofRight Bank Ukraine, with the exception ofPolissia, they were also included in holiday meals. Beginning in the 1920s, holubtsi began to be stuffed with a rice-meat mixture, and, instead of kvas, they began to be cooked in tomato juice, sauce or paste. This is the most common way they are prepared nowadays.
Holubtsi are a popular dish for both everyday meal and as special occasion treat. ForSviata Vecheria (Christmas Eve supper) in many regions of Ukraine, holubtsi constitute one of the twelve traditional dishes served on the night. Only Lenten ingredients are used in this case.[14][15] On occasion of Sviata Vecheria, Boykos and Transcarpathians make holubtsi from "kryzhavky" (pickled whole heads of cabbage). Into these "pickled" holubtsi they put a stuffing of rice and mushrooms. Carpathian-style holubtsi are usually made from fresh cabbage and stuffed with corn grits, or with grated raw potato (vorokhta, verkhovyna, kvasy). These are best served with mushroom gravy. To differentiate the different types of holubtsi, they are wrapped into different shapes: corn-filled ones are made into the shape of envelopes, with the edges folded in, potato-filled are simply rolled up. A classic Halychian (Galician) Sviata Vecheria dish is holubtsi stuffed with grated potato and served with a mushroom machanka (dipping sauce).
On 4 May 2023, the cooking of holubtsi, a Ukrainian traditional dish, was inscribed in the National Inventory of Elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine.[16]
The Russian version of cabbage rolls usually consists ofminced meat mixed with cooked rice (or buckwheat) wrapped in cabbage leaves and stewed in a mixture of either sour cream or tomato sauce or both.
There is an easier-to-make variation of that dish calledlenivye golubtsy ("lazy" cabbage rolls): the cabbage is chopped and mixed with minced meat and rice so there is no need to wrap every meatball in a cabbage leaf.[17]
As for thebell pepper variant the dish, the Russians refer to it as "perchiki" ("little peppers", even though bell peppers are big among peppers).[citation needed]
Kåldolmar ("cabbage dolma") areSwedish cabbage rolls filled withrice and minced meat (most oftenpork). They are traditionally eaten with boiled or mashedpotatoes,gravy, andlingonberry jam. InFinland the same dish is known askaalikääryle (pluralkaalikääryleet).
In 1709, after losing theBattle of Poltava, the woundedCharles XII of Sweden and the remnants of his army escaped with theirCossack allies to theOttoman town ofBender, in present-dayMoldavia, where they were granted refuge bySultanAhmed III. Charles XII spent more than five years in the Ottoman Empire, trying to convince the Sultan to help him defeat the Russians. When he finally returned to Sweden in 1715, he was followed by his Ottoman creditors and their cooks. The creditors remained in Sweden at least until 1732; it is generally believed that Ottoman style dolma were introduced into Swedish cooking during this period.
As indicated by the name, Swedishkåldolmar are generally considered a variety of thedolma.[18]
The earliest known Swedish recipe for "Dolma" is in the 1765 edition of the famouscookbook ofCajsa Warg.[19] Warg instructed her readers to prepare the rolls using vine leaves, lamb, rice, and lemon juice. Toward the end of the recipe, however, Warg suggested that those who could not afford vine leaves could use preboiled cabbage leaves in their place.[20] Nowadays, frozenkåldolmar, cooked with preboiled cabbage leaves, are sold in most major food stores in Sweden.
To cherish early modern cultural interchange between Sweden and the Orient, the Cabbage Dolma Day (Kåldolmens dag) is celebrated on 30 November, the dayCharles XII was killed during a military campaign in Norway. The celebrations were instated in 2010 by a group known as the Friends of the Cabbage Dolma (Kåldolmens vänner). In a series of media appearances, historianPetter Hellström explained that the group wanted to make 30 November a day to remember and ponder the multifaceted roots of Sweden's cultural heritage,[20] apparently in contrast to the same day's long history as the unofficial marching day of Swedishfascism andright-wing extremism.[21] Starting in 2013, the Cabbage Dolma Day was hosted by theSwedish History Museum inStockholm, the country's foremost historical museum.[22] The celebrations have also been supported by a number of important civil society organizations over the years, notably theChurch of Sweden and the Federation of Local History and Folk Culture (Sveriges hembygdsförbund).
InEgyptian cuisine, cabbage rolls are calledmaḥshī kromb ormaḥshī kronb (Egyptian Arabic:محشي كرمب orمحشي كرنب), literally translating to "stuffed cabbage". The leaves are fresh and commonly cut into smaller pieces and partially pre-cooked. The most common filling is a mixture of rice, onion, tomato, herbs, and spices (most typically including mint, dill, and cumin); meat is rarely used in Egyptian stuffed cabbage. The rolls are arranged in a pot and boiled in broth or tomato-based sauce, also including the herbs and spices.[23] As the pieces of cabbage and therefore the rolls are small, the leaves are usually simply rolled around the filling almost like a small cigar, and are left open at the ends rather than folded around the filling to produce a completely enclosed package.[23]
In regions heavily influenced by Polish immigrants, such as Chicago which claims the largest Polish population outside of Poland, Detroit, Pennsylvania, the southern tier of New York, andnortheastern Ohio, Jewish cabbage usually refers instead to stuffed cabbage rolls, such as the Polishgołąbki. These are also known aspigs in a blanket, but this term is not very well known outside of Illinois.[24]Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe popularized the dish inNew York City, which is why they became known asJewish cabbage.[3] Jewish cabbage soared to nationwide popularity during the 1970s, when economic circumstances paired with an interest in a healthier lifestyle made the dish a perfect staple on the dinner table for American families.
Cabbage rolls also feature prominently in the cuisines ofCajuns andLouisiana Creoles of southern Louisiana, where they usually take the form of ground pork mixed with rice and chopped vegetables stuffed into parboiled cabbage leaves and cooked in atomato sauce-based liquid.
Romani Americans,Hungarian Americans,Chinese Americans andVietnamese Americans often cook cabbage rolls.
Romani people in the United States eatsarmi which is made with cabbage leaves stuffed with pork, onions, peppers, rice, and tomatoes.[25]
InChinese cuisine, cabbage rolls are called 白菜卷, pronouncedbáicài juǎn.
Cabbage rolls are popular across theLevant region. They are calledmalfouf (Arabic:ملفوف,romanized: malfūf,lit. 'cabbage') ormalfouf mahshi (Arabic:ملفوف محشي,romanized: malfūf maḥshī,lit. 'stuffed cabbage'); they are typically stuffed with rice and minced meat (usually ground beef), and seasoned withcinnamon, with lemon juice as topping.[26][27][28][29]
Many cultures claim to have [...] her boiled cabbage leaves.
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