Lazy Holubtsi (ліниві голубці, deconstructed cabbage rolls)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A wide heavy pan for softening cabbage
• •A large baking dish, about 23 x 33 cm
• •A box grater
• •A sharp knife or mandoline for slicing cabbage

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the rice

   Put the rinsed rice in a small pan with the vegetable stock or water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a low bubble, cover, and cook until the grains have swollen but still keep a little bite. Drain if needed. It will finish in the tomato sauce, so do not cook it soft now.

   Rice that is slightly underdone drinks in the tomato during baking. Fully cooked rice turns tired and heavy.
2. 2

   Brown the mushrooms

   Heat one tablespoon of sunflower oil in a wide pan and add the chopped mushrooms with a pinch of salt. Let them give off their water, then keep cooking until the pan goes quiet and the mushrooms smell deep and nutty. This is where the meatless filling gets its backbone.

3. 3

   Soften the cabbage

   Add another tablespoon of oil, then the onions and carrots. Cook gently until the onion turns glassy and the carrot stains the oil orange. Add the sliced cabbage by handfuls, salting lightly as you go, and turn it through the pan until it slumps, shines, and stops smelling sharp.

   This is the step that decides the dish. If the cabbage goes into the oven raw, it waters everything down; softened first, it turns sweet and carries the tomato.
4. 4

   Make it tomato-rich

   Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, paprika, bay leaf, black pepper, and the teaspoon of salt. Let the paste darken against the bottom of the pan until the smell changes from tinny to sweet. Pour in the passata and cabbage brine, scraping up anything stuck to the pan.

5. 5

   Layer and bake

   Oil a large baking dish. Fold the rice and most of the dill through the cabbage mixture, then spoon everything into the dish and press it level without packing it hard. Cover tightly and bake at 190C until the rice is tender and the sauce is bubbling at the edges, then uncover until the top catches in little browned patches.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Let the dish sit for at least fifteen minutes before serving. It should spoon out softly, not pour, with glossy tomato clinging to the rice and cabbage. Scatter with the remaining dill and bring smetana or vegan sour cream to the table for anyone who wants that cold-white spoonful against the tomato.

Chef Tips

• •If you have fermented cabbage brine, use it. That little sour note remembers the older holubtsi made with barrel-soured leaves, and it keeps the tomato from tasting flat.
• •Mushrooms need patience, not fuss. Cook them until their water is gone and the pan smells almost toasted; pale mushrooms taste polite, and this dish wants depth.
• •You can swap half the rice for cooked buckwheat for a village-kitchen version with more bite. A bit more modern would be adding brown lentils, and they work well, but keep the cabbage and tomato in charge.
• •This reheats beautifully. The rice firms overnight, the tomato settles, and lunch the next day may be better than dinner.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook the rice and chop the cabbage a day ahead if you like; keep them covered in the fridge.
• •The whole baked dish can be made 1 to 2 days ahead and reheated covered until hot through, then uncovered briefly to bring back the top.
• •Leftovers keep 4 days in the fridge and freeze well in portions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)