A Krautwickel or Cabbage Roll is a traditional German home cooked meal. You can add rice, but I like mine with potatoes. It’s a true German comfort meal
Perfect for lazy weekends when I feel like eating a hearty home cooked meal
The other weekend I took advantage of the “man-is-not-at-home hour” and made my mother’s Kohlrouladen cabbage rolls – and really celebrated it! Winter vegetables arouse little enthusiasm in men. And that’s expressed nicely.
So on that Saturday I treated myself to this classic. Leaf by leaf filled the minced meat and tied into small packs. Yes, admittedly, at the end I still had a lot of cabbage rolls left over. But the good thing about it, they can be frozen.
See preparation below:
Cabbage rolls ingredients 
Fry one medium onion and add to minced meat 
Minced beef and pork with salt, pepper, paprika, nutmeg, lemon zest, onions, sour cream and eggs 
Remove root of cabbage 
Boil the cabbage until leaves come off easy (5+ minutes) 
Position two cabbage leaves 
Place minced meat inside cabbage leaves 
Wrap the cabbage and fold leaves in. 
Wrap the Cabbage roll. Can be tied with kitchen yarn 
Heat a pan with vegetable oil or lard place cabbage rolls inside 
Fry the Cabbage rolls until brown on both sides. Add the liquid and simmer 
Instant Pot recipe: Sear the filled cabbage rolls in the Instant pot. Remove, add 2 cups beef broth or water and a beef cube, 2 tbsp tomato puree and onions. Place the cabbage rolls on a trivet. Close the top and turn on high pressure for 13 minutes with 5 minutes slow release. Open lid, season, and thicken the gravy with the sear function, press cancel and add some cream and white wine, salt and pepper.
Krautwickel or Cabbage rolls
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp pepper
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 half onion, chopped and fried
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp sour cream
- Juice of a half lemon and zest
- Twig of fresh parsley
- 1 whole cabbage
- 2 tbsp oil
- Sauce:
- 1/2 onion minced
- 3 cups beef broth, or water with beef cube
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1/2 cup of whole cream, or 1 tbsp sour cream
- Flour for thickening (optional)
Instructions
- Bring a big pot of water to boil, turn on medium.
- Cut out the root cone, discard
- Add the whole cabbage to the hot water and cook 5 to 10 minutes, remove.
- Peel the softened leaves carefully.
- Leaves should come off easy.
- Mix the ground beef and pork with the first 9 ingredients.
- Take two or more softened leaves, lay the meat mixture on top, roll it and tie with kitchen yarn
- Heat a pan with oil on high and fry the Krautwickel until they get color and a few brown spots.
- Add a half minced onion, fry to golden.
- Pour in the beef broth, add beef cube and tomato puree, stir and cover.
- Cook on low/medium heat for 30 minutes.
- If you like it thicker, mix some flour and cornstarch with water and combine to the sauce with a whisk.
- Bring it to a boil to thicken.
- Add 1/2 cup of whole cream, or 1 tbsp sour cream.
- Season gravy to taste with salt pepper and some white wine.
- Remove and place on a hot serving plate.
- Can be served with mashed or boiled Potatoes.
Notes
If you are using the Instant Pot: 2 cups water, 1, onion, 1/2 cup wine. place cabbage rolls on a trivet. Close top and high pressure for 13 minutes with 5 minutes slow release. Prepare gravy.