Austrian Cabbage Rolls

NAME: _ Kohlrouladen
These cabbage rolls are flavoursome, wholesome, and easy to make.

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INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:
One plain cabbage, medium-large.
250g very lean pork
1 cup long grain white rice
1 tin chopped tomatoes, or two-three cups fresh chopped tomatoes
tablespoonful of grapeseed oil
tablespoonful of either pork dripping or olive oil
1 large or two medium brown onions.
1 tin sauerkraut, or about three cups if you have bulk
20 - 50 g speck or bacon
salt to taste
5 chicken stock cubes in a litre of hot water or one litre of chicken stock

flat coverable baking dish (or cover with two layers aluminium foil)

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METHOD:
Put the chicken stock on to simmer, put the grapeseed oil and fat (or olive oil) into a reasonably deep frypan. Chop the onion(s) about 1cm square, put in frypan with about a teaspoon of salt, allow to sizzle turning occasionally. Slice the pork across the grain and put in food processor, dice speck or bacon into half cm bits and put in processor too. Whiz for less than a minute, you want pretty coarse shreds of pork.

Once the onions are going glassy, add the pork/speck and keep stirring occasionally. When the food starts drying and frying properly, allow to fry until everything colours a bit, throw in the a cupful of sauerkraut and the rice and stir around for five more minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes and two cups of the chicken stock. Place the lid on the pan and turn right down for about an hour, or until all liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile cut the core out of the cabbage and separate off as many outer leaves as you can. I dip the cabbage under hot water to loosen the leaves and peel off carefully. Once you have as many leaves as you can (they will need to roll up a spoonful of filling each so larger leaves are preferred) and blanch them a couple at a time in the simmering chicken stock, until they are limp. Cut the thick part of the stem away on each leaf (I slice it away leaving a thin bit of the stem still on the leaf) and stack them to cool.

Oil a baking tray and sprinkle half the remaining sauerkraut on the bottom in a thin layer. Once the filling is finished and has cooled, make the rolls - Place a spoonful of filling at the stem end, partly roll the end of the leaf over, then fold the sides across that, then continue rolling. Things you can add to these leaves as you roll are sticks of cheeses like fetta, haloumi, cheddar - pretty much any solid cheese - and a mint leaf, or a few slivers of crisped bacon.

Lay the rolls quite tightly on the bed of sauerkraut in the baking tray, until you've filled the tray. Space between the ends of the rolls is okay, but keep them tight in the other direction to stop unrolling. When you've used up your leaves, sprinkle the remaining filling around the rolls and shake down in between them. Sprinkle the last of the sauerkraut over the top, and then add one or two more cupfuls of the chicken stock. Cover with two layers of aluminium foil or place the cover on the dish.

Bake in 180-200 oven for 30 minutes, then remove the covering and bake for another 30 minutes. The liquid should all have evaporated or been absorbed by then, if not don't worry, use a bit less next time.

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SERVING:
Serve right from the baking dish if you like, or else arrange on a serving platter decorated with a few sprigs of parsley.

You can also make a tomato/chilli/paprika sauce to serve over the rolls, in this case you need to adjust the aActivre Ingredients appropriately.

Serves four to six.

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NOTES:
By using the animal fat here you're supplying some of the right kind of fat to your body. Because this dish serves six people, you're really only getting one sixth of each of the fats, a matter of some 15g - 25g in total.

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ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:
FATS:__1/2__ CARBS:__1 1/2__ FIBRE:__1__
PROTEIN:__1__ ANTIOXIDANT:__1/2__ VITAMIN:__?__
DUNNO YET:____ DUNNO YET:____ DUNNO YET:____

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