Golabki, Golumpki, Gawumpki (spelling?)

There are several Polish delicacies which I have heard both Husband and Kimmy G talk about regularly: Pierogi, Chrusciki, and Golabki. God help me, I have no clue if I spelled any of those correctly....

While some might think that stuffed cabbage rolls are the epitome of comfort food, my Germanic/Scottish heritage raised by a Francophile can’t bring itself to agree.

Typically the cabbage rolls are stuffed with pork and beef mixed with rice and are then cooked in the oven or on the stove until tender.

The Polish call them gołąbki (gaw-WOHMP-kee), which literally means "little pigeons."

There are two popular sauces are used to complete the savory wrapped bundles.

One sauce I found (but didn’t make) is pretty much beef stock gravy which you cook the bundles in and then garnish with a bit of sour cream. Sounds pretty nice, but Husband expressed that his Bapcia (Babcia is the universally acknowledged spelling) made hers with the tomato sauce. So I looked for a recipe following that line of thinking.

Here is the recipe from the best looking pin I found:

Gołąbki {Polish Cabbage Rolls}

 Ingredients

1 head of cabbage, cored
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
16 oz. tomato sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 lb. lean ground beef (or half it with ground Pork)
1 cup cooked rice (I used brown)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Method:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the entire head of cabbage for 12 to 15 minutes or until tender enough for the leaves to be pulled off and rolled. Drain the cabbage and allow to cool while you prepare the filling and sauce.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions about 5 minutes, or until tender and translucent. Add the garlic, cinnamon and nutmeg and cook for 1 minute more. Remove half of the onion mixture to a large bowl. Stir the tomato sauce, brown sugar and vinegar into the skillet with the remaining onion mixture stir together. Simmer over low heat while you prepare the filling and the rolls, stirring occasionally.

Add the ground beef, rice, egg, salt, and pepper to the onion in the bowl and mix with a fork or your hands. On a cutting board, peel off 12 or more cabbage leaves and cut out the hard stem from each leaf in such a way that you end up with two long leafs for rolling. Place about 2 tablespoons of the beef mixture in the middle of each cabbage leaf half and roll up. As you roll them, place them seam side down in a 9×13 baking dish sprayed with oil. Pour sauce on top, cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

Makes 20 gołąbki.

Per gołąbek (cabbage roll): 100 calories; 6 g fat; 7 g carbohydrates; 1 g fiber; 5 g protein; 3 Points Plus

While this turned out very well, Husband did give me some pointers as did the oh so Polish, Kimmy G! It was agreed upon that it needed less rice and cinnamon/nutmeg and more sauce to good in as well as more cabbage leaves. I must have gotten a small head of cabbage because I only got about 10 bundles put together prettily. It was agreed by all that while is lacked this or that and needed more the A and B, it was good all in all. I ended up getting Bapcia's "recipe" (from the memory of Aunt Carol) in the long run and it turned out Bapcia did a gravy style of it as she didn't care for the tomato sauce. It was agreed between Husband and I that our family version of the Polish recipe would most certainly be with the tomato sauce.

Here's to new memories and traditions for our new family!

Until the next meal...