Russian comfort food: Golubtsy

Rainy weather makes me homesick and craving for some Russian comfort food that reminds me of my happy childhood. Golubtsy is for sure one of my all time favorites. Originally it is a meat dish: cabbage rolls with meat and rice but keeping up with Lent and eating veggies, I had to go for a meatless version.

This dish is very simple and fast to make and it is great for lazy days but won’t be fancy enough for having guests over, anyways it is def worth making at least once (here I address to my foreign friends - for many Russians it is a basic food from their childhood).

Being a very Russian dish ‘golubtsy’ has a foreign origin. One of the version says that it goes back to French cuisine that became popular in Russia and particularly in Saint-Petersburg in the 18th century. French cook pigeons wrapped in cabbage leaves, and Russians adopted the idea but changed it replacing pigeons with beef. Interesting enough, the name of the dish still tells its story: ‘golub’ is Russian for ‘pigeon’. Other versions track ‘golubtsy’ history to China, others - to Turkey and Armenia. The dish has also many parallels in other cultures and especially Eastern Europe and, Caucasus. Dolma would be the closest ‘relative’ to golubtsy. No matter how it appeared in Russia and where from got its name, it is yummy and has that special spirit of home-made simple food. 

Golybtsy (meatless version)

Ingredients (serve 2-3):

• 6 big cabbage leaves (use the upper ones)
• 1 cup medium-grane rice
• 1 medium-size carrot
• ¼ onion bulb
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Make rice according to directions on the package. 
2. Keep cabbage leaves in hot water for some 10 minutes or until tender (they should be flexible enough to form rolls but not too tender to fall apart).
3. Grate carrots, chop onion really fine.
4. Fry onion, add carrot, salt and pepper, reduce heat and cook for 5-7 minutes stirring often (you may want to add 1-2 tbs water to make it softer).
5. Combine rice with carrot and onion. Mix well.
6. Gently turn cabbage leaves into rolls stuffed with rice and veggie mixture. Make sure the stuffing is all inside the roll and the leaves are not broken. My Grandma used to fix golubtsy with a black thread but if you have leaves big and tender enough it is not really needed. 
7. In a deep pan arrange ‘golubtsy’ next to each other. 
8. Make sauce: mix tomato paste with ½ cup of water, 1 tbs vegetable oil, salt and pepper. 
9. Pour the sauce over golubtsy.
10. Put to boil, then reduce heat and cook covered for 20 minutes. 
11. Serve hot with some fresh parsley.

formed rolls

sauce added

golubtsy ready

Note: if you are making authentic meat version replace carrot with uncooked ground beef and serve golubtsy with ‘smetana’ (sour cream).