Cabbage Dolma or Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

In the second decade of the 18th century, the Swedish warrior king Charles XII spent some time in Bender, Turkey, after a crushing defeat by the Russians at Poltava in the Ukraine. It was not a holiday, rather something akin to house arrest. Eventually the king and his soldiers escaped to Sweden, taking with them a taste for meatballs and coffee and dolma. Ingenious Swedish housewives replaced the vine-leaves of the dolma with cabbage leaves. Thus was born one of the mainstay dishes in Swedish cuisine, kåldolmar, or cabbage rolls.

Fall is the season for fresh cabbage. It is so porous and crisp that it cooks in almost half the time it takes to cook winter cabbage. The filling for kåldolmar is usually rice, brown or Basmati, mixed with ground meat, seasoned with salt and white pepper. Since I am a vegetarian, I usually replace the meat with soy ground, some type of lentils, or Quorn. 

Sometimes I season my filling with rosemary, fresh from my window sill, or thyme. 

The first thing I do is turn the head of cabbage upside down and find a sturdy, medium length knife to remove the tough center core (1).  That done, put the cabbage in a large pot with water enough to cover it - it will bob around a bit - and about a tablespoon of salt (2). I am very easy on salt in general! Bring to a boil and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Don't overcook!

While the cabbage is boiling, cook the rice for the filling (3). If you have a rice cooker, I need tell you no more. If you do not, cook a good quantity of rice. It is great to have a couple of little bags of cooked rice in the freezer for a stir fry or salad later on.

Making the filling is easy now that you have your rice. Prepare the "ground" and sauté with chopped onions, leek or garlic (4). All are fresh and in season now! The filling should be rather soft. For this batch I cut a couple of twigs off my little rosemary bush. Scrumptious!

By now your cabbage should be done. Let it cool and drain before you gently begin to loosen the leaves (5). Allow them to drain. Put them on a flat surface and carefully slice off the thick vein in the center of the leaf - that makes it easier to roll it up later (6). Then you place a heaping dessert spoon of filling onto the cabbage leaf (8) and roll it up as in the illustration below.  

Put the dolma in a rectangular baking dish, brushed with canola oil, and bake in 350F/200C oven. Watch them and baste them occasionally with some vegetable bouillon. They are done in 15-20 minutes.

Serving suggestions:

Traditional: Gravy made with pan drippings; boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam.

These dolma freeze very well.

Note:  The leaves get gradually smaller and you decide whether you want to make some mini-dolma or set the remaining cabbage aside for cabbage pudding.