Recipe: Traditional Hungarian stuffed cabbage for the Christmas table

In our “Hungarian Christmas favourites” series of articles, where we share with you the recipes of some of the greatest Hungarian Christmas dishes, this one is about what is perhaps the most traditional of them all: stuffed cabbage. Evidently, every house has its own customs, this is no different when it comes to the way stuffed cabbage is prepared. This means that the recipe in this article is not at all a universal one – rather, quite a easy one so that whoever decides to make this orthodox Hungarian dish.

This dish doesn’t really have any technical brilliance, Telex writes. Perhaps the only phase that can beat us is the rolling, but trust us, you will get through that as well.

What to make it in?

A good container is very important. You can make it perfectly in an iron skillet, a large casserole, or a heavy baking pan.

Where to buy the ingredients?

To achieve high quality, it is advisable to buy the raw material on the market, but of course it is not expected, as not everyone has the opportunity to do so.

Now let’s get down to business.

Ingredients

• 500 g minced pork
• 100 g rice
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon ground Roman cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 sauerkraut leaves
• 1 medium head onion
• 100 g meaty bacon
• 1 tablespoon of paprika
• 1 kg shredded sauerkraut
• 200 g smoked loin or leg of pork
• 3 bay leaves

For serving:

• sour cream (tejföl)

Preparation

1. Let’s start with the stuffing. Mix the minced meat with the dry rice, egg, cumin, salt and add a large handful of the shredded sauerkraut. Mix thoroughly.
2. Lay the first cabbage leaf on a board, cut the thick, veiny end about two centimetres, then put a humped tablespoon of filling on top. Roll up the leaf and push the ends sticking out of the two sides into the packet with your index finger. Continue the operation while you still have the leaf and filling. If you run out of leaf but have stuffing left over, no problem, then when it’s time to layer, add that to the pan in small scoops.
3. Dice the bacon and chop the onion. Melt the bacon fat in the bottom of a large saucepan over a low heat. When it seems to have given everything it has, add the onion and fry it. When it is soft, add the paprika. Pour this mixture into a small bowl and dice the smoked pork chops.
4. Now the layering. Take the heavy vessel you have chosen. On the bottom, spread some oniony bacon, on top comes a layer of pickled chopped cabbage, a handful of smoked meat, and on top of that, pile a layer of stuffed cabbage leaves. Again chopped cabbage, again bacon and onion mixture, smoked meat, dumplings, and finally chopped cabbage.
5. Now the layering. Take the heavy vessel you have chosen. On the bottom, spread some oniony bacon, on top comes a layer of pickled chopped cabbage, a handful of smoked meat, and on top of that, pile a layer of stuffed cabbage leaves. Again chopped cabbage, again bacon and onion mixture, smoked meat, dumplings, and finally chopped cabbage. Throw a few bay leaves on top, pour enough water/stock to cover halfway, cover and leave to simmer on a low heat on the stove or in a 150 degree oven for about 3 hours. In the meantime, check occasionally to see if there is enough liquid underneath. You can make it the day before, it will be even better the next day!

You can read the recipe in Hungarian in the article of Telex.

Find the previous recipe articles here:

• A Hungarian Christmas favourite: poppy seed bread pudding (mákos guba)
• A Hungarian Christmas favourite part 2: Rákóczi’s cake with cottage cheese (Rákóczi túrós)

Read alsoFind out the winner of the Best Hungarian Honey of the Year award

Source: Telex, DNH