Recipe: Chinese Cabbage Rolls

Chinese Cabbage Rolls

Serves 4

Chinese Cabbage Rolls
1 cup milk
1/3 cup long grain rice
2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
5 ounces each ground beef,
pork, and lamb
1/3 cup finely diced bacon
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 egg yolks
Salt, freshly ground pepper
12 Chinese cabbage leaves
1 cup beef stock


Making the cabbage rolls: Trim the tick leaf ribs flat. Place a portion of meat filling in the center of each leaf and roll up, continuing to tuck the sides in toward the center so that none of the stuffing can leak.

Bring the milk to a boil with 1/2 cup water. Add the rice and cook for 20 minutes over a low heat. Sauté the onions and garlic, in 1-1/2 teaspoons of the butter, then cool.

Combine all the meat with the herbs, egg yolks, and the onion mixture and season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked rice. Blanch the cabbage leaves, rinse in cold water, and trim the leaf ribs flat. Spread out the leaves and season with salt and pepper. Divide the filling among the leaves, and roll them up.

Grease an ovenproof dish with 1 teaspoon of the remaining butter, put the cabbage rolls in it , and add the stock, dot the remaining butter over the top and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for 35-40 minutes.

The Vegetable Bible
By Christian Teubner, Hans-Georg Levin, Elisabeth Lange, Andreas Miessmer
Penguin Studio
Publication Date: November 1998
Hardcover, $32.95
256 pages, 1,000 plus full-color photographs
ISBN: 0-670-88130-9
Recipe Reprinted by permission.