abbage

Recipes

1. Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage
2. Eqyptian Stuffed Cabbage
3. Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage
4. Julia Samuels' Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage from Sylvia Vaughn Thompson
5. Vegetarian Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage
6. Romanian Stuffed Cabbage
7. Romanian Cabbage Varza a la Cluj
8. Coleslaw
9. Mustard-Braised Spiced Cabbage
10. Karam Dulma (Uzbek Stuffed Cabbage)
11. Romanian Stuffed Cabbage
12. Japanese Cole Slaw with Daikon Radish
13. Curried Red Cabbage with Cranberry Juice from World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey
14. Salmon with Creamed Cabbage
15. Napa Cabbage, Kohlrabi and Tofu Salad w/ Sesame Dressing by Deborah Madison
16. Thai Stir Fried Cabbage with Pork by John D. Lee, restauranteur Chiang Mai, Thailand
17. Romanian - Sour Cabbage In a Barrel - Varza Acra in Butoi
18. Pennsylvania Dutch Pepper Cabbage
19. Cabbage, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup from Ottolenghi

About Cabbage

Season: Summer, Autumn, Winter

Description: Cabbage’s tightly layered leaves form a compact head surrounded by darker outer leaves. Common cabbage varieties include green, red, crinkly Savoy, Chinese, bok choy, and Napa. Cabbages are generally interchangeable in recipes, although Chinese cabbages cook in less time.

Selection: Choose vividly-colored, tightly closed heads that appear unblemished and feel crisp and heavy for their size.

Storage and handling: Refrigerate in a loosely sealed plastic bag. Cabbage heads stay fresh 1-2 weeks; sliced cabbage keeps 5-6 days. Cabbage can also be root cellared.

Preparation: Remove tough or dry outer leaves and cut head into four wedges through the stem end. Cut the hard, white core off each wedge and chop or thinly slice the rest of the wedge if desired. Stir-fry tender (Chinese) cabbages. Steam wedges of cabbage 6-9 minutes, slices 5-6 minutes. Boil wedges in small amount of water 6-9 minutes.

Serving suggestions: Toss shredded raw cabbage with a vinaigrette or creamy dressing to make coleslaw or add to tossed green salads. Season cooked cabbage with butter or herbs, or bake in a cream sauce (SIS, p. 250). Make sauerkraut (SIS, p. 277).
Nutrients: Vitamins C and K, folate; anthocyanins antioxidants (purple varieties), cancer-preventing compounds sulforaphane, isothiocyanate and indoles.
1 lb raw = 3 1⁄2-4 1⁄2 cups shredded
1 lb cooked = 2 cups

Source: Simply in Season by Menonites
http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/season/guide/cabbage.html

1 kg (2 1/4 lb) mutton or beef, 200g (7 oz) rice, 1 head of cabbage, 1 egg, 4 onions, 3 tomatoes, pinch of black pepper and red chili pepper, salt to taste.

Put the meat through a meat-grinder and combine well with rice, chopped onions, juice from sliced tomatoes, raw egg. salt and black pepper. Place head of cabbage in large pot with boiling water. Blanch about 5 minutes, remove from pot and arrange individual leave on your work surface. Put a fair amount of the meat filling on each leaf and roll up. Boil bones in soup kettle, adding salt, and a whole dried chili for seasoning. Pour strained broth just covering cabbage rolls, cover and cook about 30 minutes.

1 large white cabbage
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons white rice
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or veal
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
6 tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Break off the cabbage leaves and cut out the hard spines with a knife. Boil a pot of salted water and add the leaves, simmer several seconds, and remove when they begin to soften. Place the cabbage leaves on paper towels and allow to cool. In a greased frying pan, brown the chopped onions and rice, then add 1/2 cup hot water. Cover and allow the rice to swell, then cool several minutes.

In a large bowl mix together the meat, rice, parsley, salt and pepper.

On a wooden board, lay out a cabbage leaf, and crossing over the part that was cut out, add a spoonful of meat mixture, fold in the sides, and roll the leaf over the meat to form a sausage shape. Repeat with the rest of the leaves and meat.

Roll up the small remaining cabbage leaves and cut into strips. Slice the tomatoes.

In a large casserole dish, place several tomato slices in the bottom, followed by half the shredded cabbage, and a tight layer of stuffed cabbage. Cover with another layer of tomato and stuffed cabbage, and cover with the remaining tomato slices and shredded cabbage.

Dilute the tomato paste in 4 cups water. Add the lemon juice and garlic and pour the liquid over the cabbage. Cover and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Add more diluted tomato paste if the liquid lowers to half its original level. Serve hot with mamaliga (a Hungarian version of Polenta) and sour cream.

Source: The Art of Romanian Cooking by Cheri Sicard
posted on line at http://www.fabulousfoods.com/articles/better-living/article/467/18924 accessed Sep 14, 2010

You can make sour cabbage for sauerkraut or for use in stuffed cabbage rolls.

Ingredients

Heads of cabbage
1 quart water
1/4 cup coarse salt or sea salt FOR EACH 10 pounds cabbage
2 cups fresh uncooked corn kernels
1 bunch dill

Directions

1. Remove all loose outer green leaves from cabbages so heads are tight balls. With a sharp knife, remove hard cores, leaving clean conical holes through the middle of each head of cabbage.
2. Prepare a brine solution of water and salt.
   Use a barrel large enough to hold the cabbage you want to prepare with a little extra space on top. The traditional barrels are made of oak, but you use any non-reactive material such as glass, crock or plastic. Fill barrel with cabbage.
3. Add corn kernels and dill, pour brine solution over cabbage, press cabbage down with a flat piece of wood, preferably oak, and weight down with a clean stone or rock on top. Leave barrel open. Fermentation will start immediately, and by the next day, cabbage juices and the brine solution should begin to fill the barrel. Add enough water to cover cabbage. Let stand, open to atmosphere, in a cool place. Temperature should be 60º to 70º F.
4. During fermentation, a scrum will form on the surface, skim the scum off the surface with a slotted spoon or sieve, and wash the board and stone in hot water before replacing them.
5. Sour cabbage will be ready in about 3 weeks. However, most Romanians make it in autumn and let it ferment about 2 months for use in Christmas cooking.

To Make Sauerkraut: Use the same method as above, but shred cabbage and then place shredded cabbage in barrel. When done, fill sterile preserving jars with sauerkraut and half-fill each jar with the sauerkraut juice. Seal.

Source: Ukrainian Kitchen site administrated by Olga Drodzd
posted at http://www.ukrainianclassickitchen.ca/YaBB.pl?num=1316907353/0#0 accessed September 30, 2011