Cabbage roll

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Cabbage roll, Azerbaijani: Kələm dolması

Stuffed cabbage leaves (Azerbaijani: Kələm dolması) are popular all year round in Azerbaijan, but especially in the winter months when other vegetables are less available. The stuffing usually consists of rice and herbs such as coriander, mint and dill, onions and meat, although there is a variation – yalanchi (fake) dolma, which is meat-free.^[3]

Romania and Moldova

Romanian sarmale cooked inside a pumpkin

Sarmale are Romanian stuffed cabbage rolls traditionally served on Christmas and New Year's Eve but also served throughout the year at weddings, baptism parties, and other large celebrations. Ground pork 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 smoked pork fat, smoked ribs, or smoked sausage.

The Romanian sarmale is a versatile dish, and the best way of consuming is reheated the next day. The flavor is different with an enhanced flavor. It can be prepared with a tomato base, dill base or combination. Sweet shredded cabbage layers in between the rolls of pickled cabbage leaves or sauerkraut layers in between of sweet cabbage leaves. The taste is significant different but still a great dish.

Poland

Stuffed cabbage rolls are the epitome of Polish nourishment. 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.

Gołąbki in tomato sauce

Poles call them gołąbki, which literally means "little pigeons". For Czechs and Slovaks, it's holubky, while Serbs and Croatians refer to them as sarma. Usually, the sauce is what sets them apart. There's also a less popular version called leniwe gołąbki (lazy cabbage rolls) in which ingredients are chopped, combined together and baked or fried.

Ukraine

Holubtsi stuffed with buckwheat groats, served with smetana

Holubtsi stuffed with rice and meat mixture

Jewish holishkes are similar to Ukrainian holubtsi and Polish gołąbki

In Ukraine, the filling of holubtsi varies throughout the country. In the Carpathian region corn grits are used, whereas in the Poltava area buckwheat groats are preferred. The cereal is lightly cooked, mixed with fried onions, 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 fresh beetroot leaves, and in the southwest – with fresh young grape leaves. The holubtsi are lightly fried and then stewed with tomato, mushroom sour cream or some other sauce. During Lenten periods this might be water mixed with kvas, while at other times it might be a meat broth.

In Left Bank Ukraine and in the south, holubtsi are usually big, made from the entire cabbage leaf, while in the Dniester 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 of Right Bank Ukraine, with the exception of Polissia, 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. For Sviata 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.^[4][5] 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 Halychan (Galician) dish Sviat Vechir dish is holubtsi stuffed with grated potato and served with a mushroom machanka (dipping sauce).

Hungary

The traditional Hungarian cabbage roll (töltött káposzta) can be made from pickled cabbage leaves, filled with minced pork meat. The Hungarian version often contains minced pepper (paprika) and is served with sour cream on top. Hungarians serve this food during the periods of time near Christmas and New Year's, but stuffed cabbage also belongs to the traditional pig slaughter.

Sweden

Kåldolmar

German Wirsingrouladen made using savoy cabbage leaves

Kåldolmar are Swedish cabbage rolls filled with minced pork and in some cases rice. They are usually eaten with boiled or mashed potatoes, gravy, and lingonberry jam. Kåldolmar are also popular in Denmark and in Finland, where they are known in Finnish as kaalikääryle (plural kaalikääryleet).^[6]

The dish is considered a variety of the dolma, common in Eastern Mediterranean countries. After losing the Battle of Poltava in 1709 Charles XII of Sweden fled to the city of Bender, in Moldavia, then controlled by his ally, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. 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 some of the Ottoman creditors from whom he had borrowed money to finance his wars. The creditors lived in Stockholm until 1732, and during this time it is most likely that the dolma was introduced in Sweden.

The first known Swedish recipe for Oriental dolmas was included in a famous Swedish cookbook written by Cajsa Warg, in 1765. At the end of the recipe, Ms Warg suggested that those who could not afford vine leaves could use preboiled cabbage leaves in their place.

In Sweden "Kåldolmens dag" (Day of the Cabbage Roll) is celebrated on November 30, the day of the death of Charles XII of Sweden. It was instated in 2010 as a reaction to the recent rise in anti-immigration views by showing the purported long history of a multifaceted Swedish cultural heritage, involving national symbols with international background. It is arranged by "Kåldolmens vänner" (Friends of the Cabbage Roll).

Nowadays, frozen "Kåldolmar" are sold in most big food stores.

Russia

The Russian version of cabbage rolls usually consists of mincemeat mixed with cooked rice or buckwheat wrapped in cabbage leaves and stewed in a mixture of sour cream and tomato sauce. In order to save time there is another variation of that dish called lenivye golubtsy (lazy cabbage rolls). In that case, the cabbage is chopped and mixed with mincemeat and rice so there is no need to wrap every meatball in a cabbage leaf.^[7]

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia

Cabbage rolls are a staple diet of the population in Serbia and Croatia. Leaves of brined cabbage stuffed with ground beef with rice is a favorite during Christmastime and other non fasting holy days, while meat is omitted or substituted with crushed walnuts on fasting holy days. Traditionally cabbage rolls are simmered long in a paprika based sauce with chunks of smoked bacon. In Serbia cabbage rolls are made from leaves of brined cabbage, which is a distinguishing characteristic of Serbian sarma.

Egypt

Mahshi koromb (Egyptian-style cabbage rolls). Note how the ends are not folded in.

In Egyptian cuisine, cabbage rolls are called محشي كرمب, pronounced maḥshī kromb or maḥshī koronb (as Standard Arabic [m] often turns to [n] in proximity to [b] in Egyptian Arabic), 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.^[8] 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.^[8]

United States

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, and northeastern Ohio, the term usually refers instead to stuffed cabbage rolls, such as the Polish gołąbki. In some places these are known as pigs in a blanket. Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe popularized the dish in New York City, where they became known as "Jewish Cabbage".^[1]

Cabbage rolls also feature prominently in the cuisines of Cajuns and Louisiana 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 a tomato sauce-based liquid.