Stuffed Cabbage, Collard Greens, and Peppers

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As a child, my Yiayia would make stuffed grape leaves (dolmades to some, or Koupepia for us Cypriots). They were delicious, but so much work! Having helped her roll grape leaves as a child, when my farm share delivered me a bunch of cabbage, collard greens, peppers, and napa cabbage (all in the same week), I put my rolling technique to good use. Adapt this recipe using whatever wrapper you would like (note, this sauce has not been tested on grape leaves, which have a signature lemony sauce rather than this sweet and tangy tomato sauce).

This is a perfect make ahead meal. Last week, I made it with just cabbage (and I had so much cabbage, we had cabbage soup, cabbage stir fry, and even more leftover cabbage!) This week, I made it with napa cabbage (see note as to differences between the vegetable wrappers), bell peppers, and collard greens. I rolled the veggies on Sunday, and then cooked them later in the week, making it perfect for a busy weeknight.

Stuffed Cabbage, Collard Greens, and Peppers
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Stuffed Cabbage, Collard Greens, and Peppers

Recipe by The Cooking LawyerCourse: DinnerCuisine: Eastern EuropeanDifficulty: Medium
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

1

hour 
Cooking time

1

hour 
Total time

2

hours 

Ingredients

  • Tomato sauce

  • 1 onion, diced

  • 2 cans crushed tomatoes (28 oz. each)

  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

  • 1/2 cup raisins

  • Salt and pepper

  • Non-stick cooking spray

  • Meat filling

  • 2 lbs of ground chicken

  • 3 eggs, beaten

  • 1 onion, grated

  • 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

  • 1/2 cup of uncooked white rice

  • 1 tsp dried thyme

  • Salt and pepper

  • Vegetable wrapper

  • Your choice! 1 head of cabbage, napa cabbage, collard greens, or several bell peppers (4 peppers for each pound, depending on how big your peppers are)

  • For baking

  • 1-2 cups of beef broth or bouillon cube with water

Directions

  • Tomato sauce (make ahead to save time – I usually make the sauce on the same day as the meat filling – make double and freeze it for later)
  • In large pot, add cooking spray. Over low heat, sweat down the diced onion.
  • After onion is translucent, add the crushed tomatoes. Turn heat up, and bring to a boil.
  • Add raisins, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
  • Simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool before mixing into meat.
  • Meat filling
  • Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.
  • Add bread crumbs and rice. Stir to combine.
  • Grate onion into the bowl.
  • Add thyme, salt, pepper, and ground meat into bowl.
  • Add 1 cup of sauce to meat mixture. Then mix the meat to combine -careful not to overmix.
  • Vegetable wrappers
  • Except for the peppers, all the other vegetables will need to be blanched so that the vegetable wrapper is malleable. I learned some lessons in how to blanch the vegetables so see below depending on what vegetable you choose to use. Blanch vegetable (except for bell pepper) for 2-3 minutes until soft.
  • Immediately add to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. I let sit for about 5 minutes in the ice bath and then move into my salad spinner to remove excess water. I then place my vegetable wrappers on a plate so I can start stuffing.
  • Stuffing your vegetable
  • Get out a dutch oven or similar oven-ready dish. I use the 6 quart size. Add a thin layer of tomato sauce to the bottom of the dish.
  • FOR CABBAGE, add a thumb-sized tube of meat filling to the round part of the upper leaf of the cabbage (the thinnest side). Fold the sides in, and roll until the end. Place the hard stem down in the pot. FOR COLLARD GREENS, remove the hard rib. Add the filling to the top of the collard green leaf (the one that did not have the rib). Fold up the top of the leaf, then fold in the two sides where the rib had been, and roll it. Place with any open side downward, so it stays close while cooking. FOR NAPA CABBAGE, remove the bottom of the cabbage as it will still be hard after blanching (see note – you actually can remove before blanching and then use the bottoms for a stir fry on a different night of the week.) Add the meat filling to the top of the leaf. Fold down the top and two sides then roll towards the white stem. Place in the dish with the white part down so that it will not unwrap while cooking. FOR BELL PEPPERS, remove the stem in such a way that you can add it back while cooking. I like to make a wide square shape with a pairing knife so that all the seeds come out attached to the stem. I then slice off the seeds and keep the stem for my lid. Remove any white ribs from the interior of the pepper. Then spoon in the filling leaving about an inch for broth for the night of cooking.
  • Place the vegetables tightly together in the bottom of the dish. Once you have a full layer, add a thin layer of tomato sauce.
  • Keep going until you run out of meat filling.
  • You can add the baking dish to the refrigerator at this point, or proceed to baking it.
  • Ready for the oven!
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Add 1-2 cups of broth. If you made peppers, add 1 inch of liquid to the inside of your stuffed pepper. For all other vegetables, add enough broth to cover the vegetables.
  • Bake for 60 minutes. Then enjoy!

Notes

  • Blanching cabbage – I read a tip to blanch the whole head of cabbage at one time by using a pairing knife to remove the stem. In addition to being hard to do this, it was also difficult to remove the cabbage after the 3 minutes, and hard to get all of the cabbage to blanch at the same time. So I don’t recommend this method! I would remove the leaves carefully. Then blanch the leaves. Add to an ice water bath.
  • Blanching collage greens – these were the easiest to prepare. Simply wash the leaves well, then add to the boiling water for 2 minutes. Add to ice water bath. Remove the ribs as you are stuffing them.
  • Blanching napa cabbage – also way easier to blanch than the cabbage. I remove the bottom stem, then carefully removed each leaf. I cut the white part and placed in a pile for stir fry later in the week. I then placed each leaf into the boiling water for 2 minutes, followed by the water bath. Note, you can only use about half the head of the napa cabbage because the inside is not wide enough to roll. But it is delicious as a stir fry, so multi-use the head for various meals during the week!