Pam's malfuf (middle eastern cabbage rolls)

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 large Head of cabbage
1 pounds Ground beef
½ cup Onion; finely chopped
2 Cloves garlic; minced
1 cup Parsley; finely chopped
16 ounces Canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon Seasoned salt
1 Egg
1 cup Regular or basmati rice; uncooked
¼ cup Oil
1 can (large) tomato juice (1-1 1/2 quarts)
4 tablespoons Oil; extra
Salt and pepper; to taste

Directions

Core cabbage sparingly and boil in a large pot of water over medium heat until leaves begin to come apart. Remove leaves as they soften and separate. When cool enough to handle, thin out center vein of each leave with a paring knife. Drain tomatoes, reserving liquid, and dice. Mix the ground beef with the, onions, garlic, parsley, tomatoes, seasoned salt, pepper, egg, rice and ¼ cup oil. Spoon out mixture on each cabbage leaf, at the thicker edge, and roll, either tucking sides in once or like a cigar--roll snugly but with enough room for the rice to expand. Coarsely chop up the leftover cabbage and place in the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven (This will prevent the cabbage rolls from scorching). Place cabbage rolls on top of chopped cabbage Combine the reserved juice from the canned tomatoes with the large can of tomato juice, 4 tablespoons oil and salt and pepper. Pour over the cabbage rolls. The liquid should cover or nearly cover the rolls. Cook, covered, over medium heat for 1 hour; reduce heat to medium-low and cook for a further 30 minutes.

NOTES : I was told that authentic Malfuf does not have tomatoes in the meat mixture. My neighbor in Saudi, Phil Habib, of Lebanese heritage, taught me to make these. For the most part, Arabic food is not highly seasoned, so I have adjusted the seasoning to our taste.

Recipe by: Pamela Creeden Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #671 by Creedenite@... on Jul 14, 1997

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