The saying that food is constantly evolving is perhaps overused, but it is true. Take the Jewish dish of stuffed cabbage rolls. This classic recipe calls for wrapping head cabbage around beef meatballs and simmering them in a sweet-sour sauce until tender.
Makiki resident Kayla Rosenfeld’s great-bubi Frannie Gilbert made this special-occasion dish for the family. (Bubi is Yiddish for grandmother.)
“Bubi was a fabulous cook and I was a fabulous eater,” Joyce Rosenfeld, Kayla’s mother, wrote on a handwritten copy of the recipe.
The family’s trick of freezing the cabbage overnight is a culinary game changer. The freezer turns the cabbage into a pliable wrap to hold the seasoned meat. It eliminates the usual step of blanching the cabbage to make it tender.
When the Rosenfeld family lived in Okinawa, Joyce discovered that she liked the shape of Chinese cabbage, also called won bok or Napa cabbage, so she began using it in her cabbage rolls. A new tradition was established, and the classic recipe evolved.
Preparation of the sauce is painless, as it does not need to be cooked ahead of time. Onions, garlic, dill and apricots take a few minutes to peel and chop. The rest — canned tomatoes, wine, broth, ketchup, salt and pepper — are poured directly into the baking pan to meld together when cooked.
Kayla, a former Hawaii Public Radio news director, descends from Russian Jews who fled Europe before the Holocaust and settled in Brooklyn. She lived in Israel for three years and graduated from high school there.
She calls the dish traditional peasant food.
“In their new home of Brooklyn, New York, my great-grandmother was poor and had to think of how to make inexpensive food taste good. (She threw in) red wine, apricots and onions, because that’s what they had,” Kayla said.
Meatballs tucked inside the cabbage rolls are tender from eggs, beef broth and matzo meal, made from unleavened matzo, finely ground.
The combination of onions, a whole bulb of garlic, dill, tomatoes and apricots creates a delicious sauce — savory, yet slightly sweet — that goes well with the cabbage rolls.
Next, Kayla is contemplating a vegetarian version using grains such as barley or quinoa, and root vegetables such as beets, carrots and parsnips, to stuff the cabbage.
The evolution and innovation continue.
GREAT BUBI’S STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS
By Kayla Rosenfeld
- 1 large head won bok
- >> Sauce:
- 2 large onions, coarsely chopped
- 1 garlic bulb, cloves separated and skin removed
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
- 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- >> Meat filling:
- 1-1/2 pounds ground beef, 85% lean preferred
- 1 cup matzo meal
- 2 large eggs
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
Place cabbage in freezer overnight. The next day, defrost at least 5 hours. Remove core and separate leaves. Set aside.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place sauce ingredients in 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
In bowl, mix filling ingredients. Place a cabbage leaf on a plate or board. Form a portion of filling into a ball or log shape and place in middle of leaf. Starting from bottom, roll cabbage leaf and cover meat. Push in both sides of rolls and place in bed of sauce with loose end on bottom. Repeat until baking dish is full (any leftover cabbage may be saved for soup).
Cover with foil and place on large baking sheet to catch drippings. Bake 2 hours. Serve hot with roasted or mashed potatoes, egg noodles or rice. Makes about
24 rolls. Serves 12.
Leftovers may be frozen, covered tightly. Defrost and bake or microwave to warm.
Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 270 calories, 9 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 70 mg cholesterol, 1,500 mg sodium, 30 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 14 g sugar, 15 g protein.
Lynette Lo Tom, author of “Back in the Day,” is fascinated by old-fashioned foods. Contact her at 275-3004 or via Instagram at @brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.
