Stuffed cabbage sauce - recipe. Stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce

Ingredients:

(Yield: 18 pieces of cabbage rolls)

• 1 white cabbage
• stuffing for cabbage rolls
• 600 gr. minced meat
• 0.5 cups rice
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp. mineral water
• ground black pepper
• sauce for cabbage rolls in a pan
• 0.5 l. tomato sauce
• sugar, salt, pepper to taste
• sour cream (optional)

• I will not discover America if I say that cabbage and minced meat are the main ingredients of any cabbage rolls and that the taste of the latter largely depends on the minced meat and cabbage. Despite the obviousness of this luck, I want to draw your attention to it once again. First of all, it is important to choose good cabbage - we take only ours, white cabbage, with thin juicy leaves. We don’t even look at hybrids with hard leaves.
• We cut off the top two or three leaves from the cabbage, and make deep cuts at the stalk itself with a sharp knife. Thanks to this, the cabbage will cook faster, and it will be much easier to separate it into individual leaves.
• We take a pan large enough so that our cabbage can fit in it. Place the cabbage, stalk side down, into boiling water. Cook a medium cabbage for 5-7 minutes; if the cabbage is large or small, then increase or decrease the time accordingly.
• Carefully remove the cabbage from the boiling water and place it back into the pan, stem side up. Cook for 3-4 minutes and turn off the heat.

• We take out our cabbage, let it cool a little, and separate it into separate leaves. The cabbage is not always fully cooked, so when we get to a fresh leaf, we repeat the cooking procedure, since the hot water is already prepared on the stove.


Stuffing for cabbage rolls

• Boil the rice until half cooked: add the rice to boiling salted water. Cook for 7-8 minutes, by this time the rice has significantly increased in volume, but the grain inside still remains dense. Turn off the heat and drain the water.
• We take minced meat, in principle, any good minced meat will do, I usually take half pork and beef.
• Peel the onion, chop finely, simmer over low heat until it becomes soft and transparent.
• Combine minced meat, onion and rice. Salt and pepper. This amount of minced meat requires about a level teaspoon of salt.

• Mix the minced meat well, add a couple of tablespoons of mineral water so that the stuffing for the cabbage rolls is not too dense. Be sure to taste it; the filling should be quite salty and peppery, but in moderation.

Cooking cabbage rolls

• The filling is ready, the cabbage leaves are ready too, you can roll the cabbage rolls.
• Take a cabbage leaf. If there is a very thick central vein at the base of the leaf, then cut off the thickest part with scissors. It's okay if you get a small cut.


• Place a spoonful of filling on the sheet and roll up the cabbage roll. We should have an envelope, pressing the edges tightly.


• We form cabbage rolls until the filling or cabbage leaves are gone.
• To make cabbage rolls cooked in a pan tasty, you should take care of the sauce. To do this, take at least half a liter of good tomato sauce, bring to a boil, add salt, sugar, pepper to taste. Don’t forget that it is the sauce that determines the final taste of cabbage rolls. To soften the taste, you can add a glass of sour cream or cream to the sauce, but I like it better when sour cream is served separately with cabbage rolls.

• Place the cabbage rolls tightly in a wide pan. I have two rows. Pour hot sauce over the cabbage rolls.

• Put the pan on the fire. Ideally, the sauce should cover the cabbage rolls. If there is not enough sauce, you can add a little broth left after boiling the cabbage (this is better than adding regular water).

• Bring the cabbage rolls to a boil, reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 40-45 minutes over low heat.

• Serve the cabbage rolls warm, letting them steep first. Don't forget to serve sour cream or

If you simply fry ready-made homemade cabbage rolls in vegetable oil and serve, then such a dish will probably turn out to be a bit dry. A fragrant filling for the treat in question will help correct the situation. Today there are several recipes for successful cabbage roll sauce. We will introduce you to them!

Classic tomato and sour cream sauce for cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

• a couple of white onions;
• two medium-sized carrots;
• 1 full glass of medium-fat sour cream;
• 4 tbsp. l. any chopped greens;
• 1 tbsp. boiled water;
• 2 tbsp. l. with a heap of tomato paste;
• salt;
• chilli;
• any vegetable oil.

Preparation:

1. Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a heat-resistant frying pan. Add randomly chopped onion into it. It is necessary that the vegetable pieces are fried evenly and not burnt.
2. Peel the carrots, grate very finely and add to the onion. Continue frying the ingredients together for another 2 - 3 minutes.
3. Add tomato paste to the vegetables, after another minute add sour cream and heat the mixture for a couple of minutes.
4. Add salt, chopped chili and herbs. You can add other favorite spices to the dish.
5. Pour water over the sauce base and place the prepared cabbage rolls into it.

Place cabbage rolls in tomato-sour cream sauce in the oven for a quarter of an hour at medium temperature.

Cooking with sour cream

Ingredients:

• half a liter of medium fat sour cream;
• 5 – 6 garlic cloves;
• 1 tsp. ground red hot pepper;
• 1 bunch of fresh dill;
• fine salt.

Preparation:

1. Wash the parsley bunch and cut off the thick stems. Finely chop the remaining greens with a knife.
2. Mix parsley with sour cream. A dairy product with 20% fat content is perfect for this sauce.
3. Salt the mixture to taste. Add red pepper and crushed fresh garlic.

You can simmer cabbage rolls in sour cream sauce according to this recipe in the oven. Or serve the filling separately to a ready-made hot dish.

Simple tomato sauce

Ingredients:

• 550 ml thick tomato juice;
• a couple of large heads of white onions;
• 350 g of fresh ripe and soft tomatoes;
• up to 100 g of fresh parsley;
• 2 bay leaves;
• 5 – 7 black peppercorns;
• vegetable oil;
• salt and pepper.

Preparation:

1. Wash the tomatoes well and make cross-shaped cuts on their skin at the top. Place the tomatoes in boiling water and keep in it for a couple of minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables into ice water, remove the skins from them, and cut the remaining pulp into cubes.
3. Also chop the onion. Finely chop the washed and dried greens.
4. Wrap bay leaves and peppercorns in cheesecloth.
5. Fry the onion with pieces of tomatoes and herbs in a small amount of oil. Cook them together for 8 – 9 minutes.
6. Pour tomato juice over the products. Place the prepared gauze bag into it.
7. Simmer the tomato sauce over low heat for half an hour.
8. After a quarter of an hour, remove the spices, add salt and sugar, add herbs.

Immediately pour the prepared sauce over the cabbage rolls.

Spicy recipe

Ingredients:

• a glass of meat broth;
• a couple of onions and carrots;
• 30 ml tomato paste;
• 1 tsp. ginger root;
• 25 g flour;
• 75 g butter;
• 3 – 5 g cumin;
• 1 pinch of dried dill;
• salt and sugar.

Preparation:

1. Peel the ginger root thoroughly and cut into thin slices.
2. Peel the vegetables and chop very finely. It is better to grate the carrots as finely as possible.
3. Grind the cumin in a mortar, add sugar and salt.
4. Melt a little more than half the butter in a cast iron skillet. Add cumin and ginger to it. Fry the ingredients for 3 - 4 minutes.
5. Add vegetables to the spices. Cook for another 8 – 9 minutes.
6. Add tomato paste. Continue cooking for 6 – 7 minutes.
7. Melt the remaining butter in a second frying pan and fry the flour in it until light and barely noticeable brown.
8. Gradually pour in the broth and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently to thicken.
9. Combine the contents of two frying pans.

Warm the cabbage rolls in the resulting sauce.

Sauce for lazy cabbage rolls in the oven

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. l. homemade sour cream;
• one and a half glasses of beef broth;
• 1 small onion and carrot each;
• salt;
• spices to taste.

Preparation:

1. Fry chopped vegetables in any heated fat. It is best to cut the onion into miniature cubes and finely grate the carrots.
2. When the vegetables become soft and slightly browned, add all the sour cream to them at once and pour in the beef broth.
3. Add salt and favorite spices.
4. Simmer the sauce for lazy cabbage rolls for 20 - 25 minutes in the oven over low heat, covered.

When the mixture thickens, turn off the oven and leave the sauce in it for a few more minutes.

Vegetable gravy

Ingredients:

• 1 red bell pepper;
• salt to taste;
• 1 tomato;
• 1/3 tbsp. tomato paste;
• pepper mixture;
• oil;
• 1 carrot;
• salt;
• 1 onion.

Preparation:

1. Grate the carrots into medium strips and mix with onion cubes.
2. Bring vegetables to softness in any heated oil.
3. Add small cubes of pepper to the frying pan and simmer the ingredients together for a couple of minutes.
4. Peel the tomato, chop it coarsely and also add it to the frying pan.
5. Add tomato paste and add approximately 1 tbsp. water.
6. Add salt and pepper to the sauce and simmer over low heat until all ingredients soften and it becomes homogeneous.

It’s delicious to cook cabbage rolls in this filling in a slow cooker, as well as in the oven and in a frying pan.

Cheese sauce for cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

• 1/3 tbsp. light flour;
• half a stick of natural butter;
• ½ dessert spoon of mustard powder;
• 2 tbsp. high fat milk;
• ½ tsp. soy sauce;
• salt;
• 100 grams of any cheese.

Preparation:

1. Melt the butter, cut into pieces, in a saucepan and fry all the flour in it for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
2. When all the lumps disappear, pour in cold milk.
3. Add soy sauce, a little salt and mustard powder.
4. Add all the finely grated cheese.

Mix the ingredients of the sauce thoroughly and heat it for a couple of minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. vegetable broth;
• 1 piece each carrots and onions;
• 25 g tomato paste;
• oil for frying;
• dried ginger;
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic;
• 1 tbsp. l. sifted flour;
• 3 g cumin;
• ½ tsp. dried dill;
• salt and sugar, several varieties of ground pepper.

Preparation:

1. Grind the garlic and cumin in a mortar, and finely chop the vegetables.
2. Simmer the onions and carrots until soft.
3. Add ginger, tomato paste, mixture from step one, salt and sugar.
4. When the mass is evenly colored, add broth with flour.
5. Simmer the contents of the pan until thickened.

Serve the sauce hot or cold with ready-made cabbage rolls.

Mayonnaise-based option

Ingredients:

• 90 g classic mayonnaise;
• 70 g adjika;
• spices to taste.

Preparation:

1. Combine classic mayonnaise with adjika.
2. Add spices.
3. Let the sauce brew.

Brush the hot cabbage rolls with the resulting mixture and serve immediately.

Any of the sauces listed above can be used in a variety of ways. For example, simmer semi-finished cabbage rolls in it or pour over an already stewed dish for greater juiciness. Try and look for “your” option. Bon appetit!

Let's start preparing the sauce for cabbage rolls with onions. Initially, of course, it must be cleaned, and only then cut into pieces. How to cut? Whatever you like: half rings, cubes, quarter rings - how you present it in the sauce, cut it. I cut it into thin quarter rings. Place the onion in a hot frying pan and start frying. Don't forget to add vegetable oil there too. Don't make the heat too high, the onions will only burn, and we want them to cook evenly.

Well, while it's roasting, peel the carrots. I like to grate it on a grater, which is finer than a beet-carrot grater. In this case, the carrots will completely dissolve in the sauce (my youngest does not like them stewed or boiled).
Add the carrots to the onions and continue frying. Two minutes is enough.

Next comes tomato paste. She also loves roasting, after which all the aromas and tastes are revealed. Fry for another minute and add sour cream. I don’t like using full-fat sour cream, because I don’t need the extra calories, and the taste with 15% sour cream will be about as good as with 30%.

Stir and heat the vegetables with sour cream for a couple of minutes.
It's time to add seasonings and herbs. As you can see in the photo, I take a piece of hot red pepper (I choose the seeds), but this is definitely not necessary. You can simply season with regular black pepper.

Add salt and herbs. I always use the traditional dill and parsley, and to give the sauce a little more flavor, I always add cilantro. A little, about a tablespoon of finely chopped or, as in my case, all the greens were freshly frozen (I urgently use last year’s leftovers). So, I have 1 tablespoon each of parsley, dill and cilantro.

All that remains is to add water and bring the sauce to the consistency that you like and taste. For me, the optimal option is 250-300 grams. Bring the cabbage roll sauce to a boil and simmer over very low heat for about 2 minutes. If you are going to pour it into ready-made cabbage rolls, then simmer for 5-7 minutes. If you pour it over the cabbage rolls for stewing in the oven or pan, then simmer for a minute or two and carefully pour the sauce onto the tightly packed cabbage rolls and simmer until the latter are ready. After simmering, I throw away the chili pepper.

Usually served with a tomato-based sauce, or simply no sauce at all. However, we decided to diversify the taste of this dish precisely thanks to the wide range of sauces with which cabbage rolls go well. Read our article on how to prepare original sauce for cabbage rolls.

Delicious sauce for stewing cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil – 5 tbsp. spoon;
• onions – 1 pc.;
• chopped garlic – 1 tbsp. spoon;
• tomato paste – 1 tbsp. spoon;
• paprika – 4 tbsp. spoons;
• chicken broth – 2 tbsp;
• tomatoes in their own juice - 1 tbsp.;
• balsamic vinegar - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• sugar – 1 tbsp. spoon;
• thyme – 4 sprigs;
• salt - to taste.

Preparation

Heat the oil in a saucepan or deep frying pan. Fry chopped onion and garlic until soft, then add tomato paste, tomatoes and paprika. Mix thoroughly and pour everything in. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, add sugar, balsamic vinegar and thyme. Simmer the sauce over medium heat for 5 minutes, then pour it over the cabbage rolls.

The same sauce for cabbage rolls can be made in a slow cooker, using the “Baking” mode to fry vegetables and evaporate the sauce.

Recipe for a simple sauce for lazy cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil;
• onions – 1 pc.;
• carrots – 1 pc.;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• tomato juice – 400 ml;
• tomato paste – 1 tbsp. spoon;
• flour – 1 teaspoon;
• sugar – 1 tbsp. spoon.

Preparation

Fry chopped onion and finely grated carrots in vegetable oil until soft. As soon as the vegetables become soft, add chopped garlic and a little flour to them. Mix thoroughly.

Take 400 ml of tomato juice, preferably natural, or, even better, homemade, and pour it over the sautéed vegetables. Following the juice, add the tomato paste into the pan. Salt and pepper the future sauce to taste, add sugar. The sauce for lazy cabbage rolls is ready!

Recipe for cheese sauce for cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

• flour – 1/3 cup;
• butter – 100 g;
• mustard powder – 1/2 teaspoon;
• milk – 2 tbsp.;
• Worcestershire sauce - 1/2 teaspoon;
• grated hard cheese – 80 g.

Preparation

Before making sauce for cabbage rolls, we will prepare a base for it in the form of a “roux” - a base of flour and butter. Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the flour in it for about 2 minutes. Constantly stirring the flour mixture, pour warm milk or cream into it, trying to avoid the formation of lumps. Add Worcestershire sauce and mustard powder, salt the sauce a little, not forgetting that when excess moisture evaporates and thickens, the sauce becomes saltier. At the end of cooking, add grated cheese to the sauce and mix thoroughly. Serve hot cheese sauce with prepared cabbage rolls.

Sour cream and tomato sauce for cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

Preparation

Peel the onion and chop finely. Fry it in heated vegetable oil until golden brown. Then add a can of tomatoes in their own juice, or an equivalent amount of fresh, chopped and peeled tomatoes. Fry everything together for another 3-4 minutes. Place the cabbage rolls in the saucepan and pour the broth over them to cover. Let the cabbage rolls simmer over low heat, and in the meantime we’ll make the sour cream dressing.

In a dry frying pan, fry the flour until golden brown, pour it with milk and add sour cream. Boil the sauce for 3-5 minutes until thickened, then pour it into the pan with cabbage rolls and stir.

Stuffed cabbage rolls are a dish of minced meat sealed in cabbage leaves, which can be stewed in a saucepan, slow cooker, frying pan or baked in the oven. In any case, the taste of cabbage rolls will largely depend on the taste of the sauce in which they are stewed and on the sauce with which they are served. The sauce for cabbage rolls is usually made from sour cream or tomatoes; there are also mixed versions. If you prepare a delicious sauce, it will turn cabbage rolls prepared according to the simplest recipe into a culinary masterpiece.

Cooking features

Sauces for cabbage rolls come in two types: flour-based and flour-free. The technology for their preparation is different, but there are also common features.

• To prepare the sauce, it is better to use fresh ingredients. For example, if you are choosing between tomato paste diluted with water and fresh tomatoes from the garden, preference should be given to the second option.
• If you are making sauce from fresh tomatoes, you should first peel them by pouring boiling water over them. It is also advisable to remove seeds from the fruit. In this case, the sauce will be tender and homogeneous, pleasant to the taste.
• The sauce will be tastier if you add vegetables to it: fried onions and carrots, garlic pressed through a press.
• The flour-based sauce is thick, and the longer you cook it, the thicker it becomes. Therefore, it is used only as a gravy. It is better to stew cabbage rolls in a sauce that has a thinner consistency.
• The taste and aroma of any sauce largely depend on the spices used. For the sauce that you plan to serve with cabbage rolls, dill and parsley (fresh), cumin, bay leaf, black and allspice are best suited. That is, the simplest seasonings are the best in this case. But they should be used in moderation.

Recipes for sauces for cabbage rolls are very different, so the technology for their preparation is also not always the same. Therefore, it is important to follow the recommendations that accompany a specific recipe.

Spicy sauce for cabbage rolls

• vegetable or meat broth - 0.25 l;
• onions – 0.2 kg;
• carrots – 0.2 kg;
• tomato paste – 20 ml;
• ginger root – 10 g;
• garlic – 2 cloves;
• wheat flour – 20 g;
• butter – 80 g;
• cumin – 5 g;
• dried dill – 5 g;
• mixture of peppers, salt, sugar - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Peel a piece of ginger root and cut it into thin slices.
• Peel the carrots and grate them using a fine-hole grater.
• Remove the skins from the onions and chop them very finely with a knife.
• Finely chop the garlic cloves, put it in a mortar along with the caraway seeds, add a little sugar and salt, and mash thoroughly.
• Melt a piece of butter in a frying pan (a little more than half of what is specified in the recipe), add ginger, garlic and cumin to the frying pan. Fry them, stirring, for 5 minutes.
• Add chopped onions and carrots to the spices. Continue frying everything together for another 10 minutes.
• Add tomato paste and simmer for another 5 minutes.
• In another frying pan, melt the remaining butter and fry the flour in it. Gradually pour in the broth and stir, prepare a light, thick sauce.
• Pour the flour-thickened broth into the frying pan with the vegetables, stir, and simmer over low heat under the lid for 10 minutes.

If the sauce has cooled by the time the cabbage rolls are ready, it won’t hurt to reheat it on the stove or in the microwave. Although some people serve it cold.

White sauce for cabbage rolls

• meat broth - 0.25 l;
• sour cream – 0.25 l;
• flour – 40 g;
• butter – 40 g;
• salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the flour in it.
• Pour in the broth in small portions, constantly whisking the sauce so that its consistency is uniform and without lumps.
• After all the broth has been poured in, cook the sauce, stirring, for 5-10 minutes, then add sour cream and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

White sauce based on sour cream is served cold or hot with ready-made cabbage rolls.

Tomato sauce for cabbage rolls

• tomato juice – 0.5 l;
• fresh tomatoes – 0.3 kg;
• onions – 100 g;
• fresh parsley – 100 g;
• bay leaf – 2 pcs.;
• peppercorns – 5 pcs.;
• vegetable oil - how much will be needed;
• salt, sugar - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Wash the tomatoes and make cross-shaped cuts on their skin. Place the vegetables in boiling water and blanch them for a couple of minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a container filled with cold water to cool the tomatoes faster. Peel them and cut the tomato pulp into small cubes.
• Peel the onion and chop finely.
• Wrap laurel leaves and peppercorns in cheesecloth.
• Finely chop the parsley.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan, put the onion in it, fry lightly, add the tomato pieces and fry them together with the onion for 10 minutes.
• Pour in tomato juice and place a gauze bag with spices. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. 15 minutes after the start of cooking, remove the spices.
• Add salt, sugar, parsley. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

The sauce is intended to be served with ready-made cabbage rolls, but if you pour it over the cabbage rolls as soon as you remove the spices, immediately adding herbs, salt and sugar, and then simmer the cabbage rolls in this sauce, it will also turn out delicious.

Tomato-sour cream sauce for cabbage rolls

• carrots – 100 g;
• onions – 100 g;
• sour cream – 0.5 l;
• tomato paste – 50 g;
• olive oil - how much will be needed;
• salt, pepper, fresh dill - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Wash, peel and chop the vegetables. You can simply chop the onion finely; it’s better to grate the carrots into small pieces.
• Pour oil into the frying pan and put on fire. After a minute, add the vegetables and fry them, stirring, for 10 minutes.
• Add tomato paste, salt, spices, finely chopped dill and simmer everything together for another 10 minutes.
• Mix the resulting mass with sour cream. Stir until the sauce has an even color.

You can also stew cabbage rolls in this sauce if you dilute it with water in a 1:1 ratio. It is advisable to use part of the sauce for preparing cabbage rolls, and leave part for serving the dish.

Making homemade sauce won’t take too much effort, but the dish will turn out much tastier with it.