Cabbage soup aka paradicsomos káposztaleves

 

Oh my, since .... ever I am a tomato addict. I can eat tomatoes with tomatoes.

One of my favorite soups is a cabbage soup in tomato juice, and just like my father, I can eat it every week, for consecutive days. We called it lucskos, but as the dish is prepared in so many ways in different region, I just go with the simplified cabbage soup. 

I like it in the most simple way possible, no meat, no extra fuss, just the broth, cabbage, and tomato paste. Surely this can be made richer with sautéed onion, sautéed bell peppers, bacon, or smoked ham, but for me... less is more. Plus, I like to be done with the preps asap. Lazy home cook here..

Unfortunately hubby did not like it for a looong time, and the dumb-ass I am I did not make it for the family. It turns out, the kids love it too!, so it is back on the table.

We typically have a bunch of cabbage left after our taco nights, and that gives me just the right opportunity to make it.

Ingredients

2-3 pound of cabbage

1 15 oz, 425 g can tomato puree

1 liter ( 1quart) vegetable broth

3-4 tbsp of roux (rántás) with paprika

salt & pepper 

sour cream for serving (leave out for diary free)

Replace the vegetable broth with 1 heap full tbsp of Vegeta (which is basically dried soup veggies mixed with salt)

 For the roux

3-4 tbsp oil

3-4 tbsp flour

paprika powder (sweet, spicy, smoked, go for whatever you like), I use the spicy 

To prepare the roux 

Heat some oil in a small pan, and add 4 tbsp of flour. Mix constantly until light cream color. Don't be tempted to leave it alone, once it heats up it is basically burned, too, so you wanna stick to the whisk for this. Remove from teh heat, mix in the paprika, and set aside.

Prepare the soup

Slice the cabbage in thin slices, add into a 4 quart pot. Pour over the broth and tomato sauce, add 1/2 tsp black pepper, and adjust the saltiness. If you are using Vegeta, wait until it dissolves completely, you don't want to add extra salt if not necessary. Add water until the cabbage is covered.

Bring to boil, and simmer for 45 minutes. You can simmer slightly less, or more, depends how crunchy you like the cabbage. I actually like this one less crunchy, so I tend to simmer it longer.

When cooked it's time to decide how thick you like your soup. Add more water if needed, adjust saltiness, and add the roux. Cook for a few minutes until slightly thickens.

Many people add the sour cream to it at this phase, I like to leave it out for serving. Everybody can add as little or as much as they want, and people on a diary free diet won't have any trouble.

Serve with the sour cream, croutons, toasted or fresh slices of bread.

Bon appétit!

Töltött káposzta - Hungarian cabbage rolls

Ooooooooo...
This is a GEM. IMHO the best Hungarian food after the meat soup.
If you can bare the smell of cooking sour cabbage (cabbage in general) in your house, at the end you'll have a gorgeous meal.

It is the kids' and hubby's favorite, so the quantities below are according to their appetite, if you wanna save some time cut the portions in half.

Ingredients (it yields about 80 pieces)
1 portion of the three Costco organic ground beef, approx. 1.2 pounds, or 50-50 pork-beef
round small grain rice, same amount as the meat, eg. for 1 pound meet 1 pound rice
salt, black pepper
1 large onion (medium US size is enough, large here is about the size of my head :D)
2-3 tbsp oil (if you use only beef, you need a bit more oil because the meat is dry)
2 generous pinch of savory (summer savory) / pound of meat, csomord or borsikafu in Hungarian.
4 branches of dill / pound of meat
powder paprika
1 tbsp minced red pepper
(whole, linked my favorite I found here in North Park Produce)
1 tbsp minced red pepper, store bought or prepare your own. If you use store bought don't forget that it is salted!

1 bottle of sour cabbage leaves / 0.5 pound of meat, so I needed 2 bottles 
You will need a 4-5 quart pot for the HALF portion, for the full portion I'd recommend a 7-8 quart pot.

Optionally you can add smoked and air dried pork ribs at the bottom of the pot.

Here comes the first, not so funny part. Remove all the leaves from the bottles, carefully flatten them out in your palm and remove the thick vein from the middle. Tear the leaves in two or four, depending in their size, by pulling them from the top

Chop the onions in small pieces, sauté them in the oil. When light brown remove from the heat, and mix in 1 tsp red paprika powder.
Rinse the rice until the water is clear, drain completely. Add the meat, sautéed onion, salt, black pepper, minced red pepper, sprinkle a small pinch of savory. Mix until the ingredients are homogeneously mixed.
Fill small, about walnut size pieces of filling into each cabbage leave pre-shaped into cone, close the thicker end with the overhanging leave piece.
While filling the leaves, throw the ripped ones to the bottom of the pot, to cover the whole area. Add the smoked ribs for extra flavor and calories :).
Place the cabbage rolls tight in circle in the pot and cover the top with some leftover leaves..
Place the dill branches on top of the rolls. 
Place a smaller lid to keep the cabbages sank all the time under water. That's how I learned from my grandma, and that's how I'll do it for ever :).

Fill with water until the lit is covered with water, throw some extra savory and pinch of salt or any of the spices added to the filling.
Cook at low heat, with the water barely bubbling, for about 2 hours.
Serve with sour cream and fresh bread.. Preferably home made! Yuheee!

Bon appétit!