Every so often I get a hankering for cooked cabbage. I can darn near eat the whole head in one sitting. Lately, I've been eating it with a generous helping of bean sprouts and tofu marinaded in soy sauce.
I try hard not to boil anything, unless I plan to drink the broth. Too many nutrients are washed away that way. However, I don't always have the equipment for steaming. I have this method which is sort of a half boil, half steam. The important part is that I don't throw any water away.
I get a stainless steel pain and pour some olive oil in. I cut up some onions and get them going. As soon as they are starting to turn translucent I throw on top lumps of cut up cabbage and a little bit of salt. Right before anything gets stuck to the bottom of the pain, I'll start pouring in small amounts of water and put the lid on--no more than maybe 1/2 inch of water in the pain at a time, medium to low heat.
The pan just has to be watched. The cabbage actually is steam cooked, although the small amount that touches the water directly is technically boiled. However, I don't throw this water away. Instead, I let it cook out. I keep adding small amounts of water whenever it is needed, but careful not to add too much and be left with vegetables floating in water. I mix the cabbage and onions regularly, too. The goal is for the water to cook out right at the very moment when the cabbage is perfectly done. If any nutrients have been cooked out in the boil, my guess is that they are still sitting in the pan ready to be consumed.
The end result is juicy, cooked cabbage with onions with a very light coating of oil and salt. It goes great with sausage, kielbasi and ham, as well.
I do not enjoy cooked cabbage unless it is wrapped around meat and rice in the form of a cabbage roll. Mmmm... cabbage rolls... I don't know that I've eaten one since the Battle of the Hungarian Grandmothers back in '94. My grandmother made a few hundred cabbage rolls for my high school graduation party.
ReplyDeleteFrank's mom makes great cabbage rolls... (halubki? I remember the word but I dont know how to spell it.)
ReplyDeleteI adore cabbage rolls but have only had the patience to make them once, many years ago...I should dig out my recipe from a polish friend.
ReplyDeleteI should learn to make my parents recipe. It is based on a combination of methods from my grandparents. I think it is mostly my Slovak grandma Lesko's recipe, but they always use pork which is a Polish thing to do, or so I'm told.
ReplyDeleteHalupki in Slovaki, and I think golabki in Polish, although the way my family says the Polish word sounds more like "ga-woomp-kie" so who knows.
Frank, dont let that recipe die... you need to watch your mother make those cabbage rolls and continue the line of deliciousness!!
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