Creamy Ucrainian Cabbage Rolls

The first stage is the preparation of cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls:

- In a larger saucepan (large enough to fit the whole cabbage), pour water, 1 tablespoon of salt and wait for it to start boiling water. Be careful not to put too much water, then add cabbage so that it does not run over the edges.

- When the water starts to boil, add the cabbage and remove the back. After 1-2 minutes you will notice that the leaves above are easily removed with a fork, they are removed from the cabbage and left in the water for another 1 minute.

-Repeat the procedure until you have finished all the leaves.

The leaves are removed in a deep plate and left to cool a little.

Then take each leaf, and with a knife portion the sheets into 2-3 pieces and remove the thicker stalks.

Boil the rice in water (1 unit of rice, 2 units of water) in such a way that it is slightly raw.

The meat is passed through a mincer, mixed with rice, pepper, salt, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.

This is what the stuffed cabbage filling looks like.

At the bottom of the pan in which you will boil the stuffed cabbage, put a few stalks of cabbage leaf.

I recommend using the cauldron for sarmale. They will not stick and burn quickly to the bottom.

Roll the sarmales, make them of your favorite dimensions. Fill the kettle halfway, leaving little space between them, ie do not arrange them too tightly.

Pour enough water to cover the sarmales and bring to a boil, with a few bay leaves between them.

After the water boils, make a small fire and let them boil for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.

Cut the onion into cubes, grate the carrot.

Fry a little onion and carrot together, then add 2 tablespoons of flour and leave for another 5 minutes.

Then add 1 tbsp tomato paste and sour cream. Mix well and let it boil a little.

Season with salt, in case the sauce is very thick (it should be the consistency of thicker cream), add a few tablespoons of cabbage soup.

Pour the sauce into the sarmale, after they have boiled for 30 minutes. Shake the pot a little, until the sauce is incorporated, then mix with a wooden spoon carefully, so as not to break them.

Add salt, then simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

They eat hot and with a lot of appetite :)

Good appetite!