Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (85% or 90% lean)
1 medium-large head of cabbage (leaves shouldn’t be too tight)
1 cup rice (cook as directed)
1 medium-sized onion
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 or 4 dashes of black pepper
1 small can of tomato paste
1 cup table wine
Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt. Poke holes around the stem of the cabbage and put it stem down in the boiling water. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until the leaves soften. (They should still have some firmness to them.) Pull off the leaves and separate them on a plate. If the inside leaves are still too firm, you can put the cabbage head or individual leaves back in the water for a few minutes.
Put the hamburger in a large bowl. Shred the onion into the bowl. Add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of salt (more to taste), and 3 or 4 dashes of pepper. Mix it together with your hands. Add the cooked rice. Mix again.
Make the sauce by mixing 1 small can of tomato paste with 1 cup of table wine.
Holding a cabbage leaf in the palm of your hand, spoon in the hamburger mixture. The amount of hamburger depends on the size of the leaf, but you should be able to wrap the leaf around the hamburger.
Place the golumbkis side by side in the bottom of a crock pot or slow cooker. Put sauce on top of them, but don’t cover them completely. Place a second row of golumbkis on top and cover with sauce. You may have sauce left over. Heat them on high for one hour and then on low for six hours. Do not cook on high the entire time because it could dry them out.
Chefs' tips:
*The chefs recommend putting just a tiny bit of the raw mixture against your tongue to judge the taste and whether you need to add more salt.
*The recipe easily feeds a family of four with leftovers to spare. You can double the recipe by adding a second pound of hamburger and second head of cabbage. You do not need to double the other ingredients.
*Leftover hamburger can be turned into meatballs. Leftover cabbage can be tossed into the crock pot and cooked with the golumbkis.
*The golumbkis will vary in size because of the different sized cabbage leaves. The smaller ones are perfect for smaller children.
