Cabbage roll

A cabbage roll is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of fillings. It is common to the cuisines of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and much of Western Asia, Northern China, and parts of North Africa. Meat fillings are traditional in Europe, and include beef, lamb, or pork seasoned with garlic, onion, and spices. Grains such as rice and barley, mushrooms, and vegetables are often included as well. Fermented cabbage leaves are used for wrapping, particularly in southeastern Europe. In Asia, seafood, tofu, and shiitake mushrooms may also be used. Chinese cabbage is often used as a wrapping.

Cabbage leaves are stuffed with the filling and then baked, simmered, or steamed in a covered pot and generally eaten warm, often accompanied with a sauce. The sauce varies widely by cuisine. In Sweden and Finland, stuffed cabbage is served with lingonberry jam, which is both sweet and tart. In Central and Eastern Europe, tomato-based sauces and sour cream are typical. In Lebanon, the cabbage is stuffed with rice and minced meat and only rolled to the size of a cigar. It is usually served with a side dish of yogurt and a type of lemon and olive oil vinaigrette seasoned with garlic and dried mint.

The cabbage roll is a staple in Romanian cuisine, with variations of the recipe and sizing depending on the region, but typically taking up to six hours to cook. Traditionally made with pork, beef, bacon, rice, spices and aromatics, the cabbage rolls are broiled in a tomato sauce and served with polenta, sour cream and spicy pickled peppers.

Cooking textbook author Nancy Krcek stated that the origins of the dish are unclear and that it is possible multiple groups of people invented it at the same time. Another cooking book author, Malgorzata Caprari, stated it is believed that credit is owed to the poorer inhabitants of Central and Eastern European countries. Due to the widespread cultivation of cabbage in these regions, it is likely that the cultures who inhabited them were the original inventors of this dish.

Cabbage rolls have found their way into popular culture, becoming one of the most recognizable dishes in Central and Eastern European cuisine. They often appear in literature and films as a symbol of homey comfort and tradition.

A version called holishkes is traditionally eaten by Jews on Simchat Torah. Recipes vary depending on region; for example, northern Poles prefer a savory sauce, while Galicia, Hungary and Ukraine favor sweet-and-sour.

In Asia, cabbage rolls have been adapted into various regional cuisines. In China, they are sometimes prepared with a filling of minced pork, shrimp, and vegetables, seasoned with soy sauce, ginger, and sesame oil, then steamed or simmered in a light broth. A similar dish exists in Japan, known as ロールキャベツ (rōru kyabetsu), often stuffed with ground meat and simmered in a tomato-based or dashi broth.

In Armenian cuisine, cabbage rolls are stuffed with beans and tart fruits. It is wrapped with cabbage leaves, and stuffed with red beans, chickpeas, lentils, cracked wheat, tomato paste, onion and multiple spices, mostly the spice mix of chaimen, which is also used to coat basturma. Cabbage rolls are called Pasuts tolma (պասուց տոլմա; Lenten dolma) in Armenian where they are made of seven different grains – chickpea, bean, lentil, cracked wheat, pea, rice and maize. Armenian cooks sometimes use rose hip syrup or grape syrup to flavor stuffed cabbage rolls.