Kaalilaatikko (Finnish cabbage casserole)
Soft sweet cabbage baked for an hour with minced beef and pork, a little rice, marjoram and dark syrup, until the top goes deep brown and sticky at the edges. Finland's great cold-weather casserole, always served with lingonberries. Lean mince leaves all of that intact.
- Time
- 110 min (20 prep + 90 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 364 kcal
- Protein
- 23 g
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 lb cabbage, white cabbage, cored, in fine strips about 1 cm (1/2 inch) wide
- 2 cups + 2 tbsp water
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup boiled quick-cook pudding rice, short-grain porridge rice (puuroriisi)
- 7 oz raw ground beef, 10% fat, lean minced beef, about 10 % fat
- 7 oz raw ground pork, 8% fat, lean minced pork, about 8 % fat
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 tsp dried marjoram
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp dark syrup (mörk sirap), dark syrup (tumma siirappi) or molasses-style golden syrup
- 2 tsp butter, in small flakes
To serve
- 1/3 cup lingonberry jam, reduced sugar, lingonberry jam or crushed lingonberries
Steps
- Heat the oven to 400°F.
- Put the cabbage, water, salt and rice in a large pot, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the cabbage has collapsed and the rice has begun to swell.
- Meanwhile brown the beef, pork and onion in a large frying pan over high heat for 8–10 minutes, breaking up the meat, until well coloured.
- Tip the meat into the cabbage with the marjoram, pepper and syrup and mix well. Taste for salt.
- Spread the mixture in a 25 x 35 cm (10 x 14-inch) baking dish, dot the butter over the top and bake on the lowest shelf for about 1 hour, until the top is deep brown and the centre reaches 165°F. Lay foil loosely over it if it darkens too quickly.
- Let it stand for 10 minutes and serve with lingonberries. Cool leftovers quickly and refrigerate within an hour, because of the rice. Keeps 4 days in the fridge and tastes better on the second day; reheat in the oven or microwave until piping hot. Freezes 3 months.
Good to know
How sweet should it be?
Gently. The syrup should round off the cabbage and darken the crust, not make it a dessert. Families differ, so use 2 tablespoons if yours likes it less sweet: a score of about 61 instead of 58.
Does it have to be this long in the oven?
Yes. The dark, chewy edges are the best part of the dish, and they only come with the full hour. A deep dish needs longer than a shallow one.
Per
- Calories
- 90
- Protein
- (26%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (30%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (44%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 6 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 258 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1456 kcal goes into the pot and 2206 g of ingredients comes out as about 1625 g of food: 90 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.