Cabbage rolls on a baking sheet

To prepare cabbage rolls, you will need cabbage, or rather its leaves. You can take one large head, but this is not a very convenient option. It is optimal to use two heads of small size. The upper leaves are suitable for neatly wrapping cabbage rolls, and small medium leaves can be put out or used for cabbage soup.

Will simplify the task and an alternative way to soften the leaves in the microwave. To do this, we make deep incisions along the stalk and send the cabbage to the microwave for 6 minutes. Check if the leaves have already softened, take them out, if not, turn them on for another 2 minutes. Then we take the cabbage out of the microwave and separate the leaves. We stack them and return them to the oven for another 5 minutes.

The classic method is more time-consuming, but you can use it. To do this, we release the cabbage head to boiling water, blanch for 5 minutes, take it out, cool it, remove the leaves and return them to boiling water for another 5 minutes.

While the cabbage is cooking, let's do rice. It should not be overcooked, it is better if it remains a little damp and reaches readiness already in cabbage rolls. Fill the rice with cold water, add salt and put it on high heat. As soon as it boils, reduce the intensity of the burner to a minimum and cook until all the water is absorbed.

Peel the onion, wash it and cut it into small cubes. Divide into two parts, one half will go into the filling, and the second into the sauce. Fry half of the onion in vegetable oil until transparent. At the same time, add a little salt, ground pepper and dried dill (half a serving). Dill can be replaced with fresh, finely chopped.

In a deep bowl, put the minced meat (preferably if it is a mixture of pork and beef), cooked rice, fried onions. Knead until smooth.

Preparing the sauce. Fry the remaining onion in vegetable oil, pass the garlic through a press and add it to the onion in the process. Carrots are cleaned, washed and grated on a coarse grater. We send it to the frying pan when the onion has become transparent.

Tomatoes in their own juice are crushed with a blender or crushed with a fork and poured into the vegetables in a frying pan, season with oregano, a little salt and pepper, mix with a spatula, cover with a lid and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

While the sauce is being prepared, let's start wrapping cabbage rolls. The wide part is beaten off with a hammer, pricked with a fork or cut off if the veins are too rough. We put a small amount of filling, wrap the cabbage leaf with an envelope. We try to fill the edge on the side, then the cabbage will definitely not fall apart.

We put cabbage rolls on a baking sheet as tightly as possible to each other. Pour 100 ml of water between the cabbage rolls, and pour tomato sauce on top. Cover the baking sheet with foil and bake for 50 minutes at 200 degrees. We serve it hot, you can add sour cream.

Bon appetit!