Kåldolmar (Swedish cabbage rolls)
105 min · 36 g protein · 531 cals / serving
Sweden's cabbage rolls (the story goes that Karl XII's soldiers brought the idea home from Turkey), made Swedish with a brush of golden syrup: tender cabbage leaves wrapped round a soft, peppery mince and rice filling, browned in butter and baked until sticky and caramelised. Served the classic way with boiled potatoes, a creamy pan sauce and stirred lingonberries.
Ingredients
Cabbage
- 20 large leaves from 1 very large head cabbage, cored; save the rest of the head for another dish
Filling
- 10 oz ground beef (95% lean), 5 % fat
- 1/4 cup rice basmati rice, boiled and cooled
- 1 egg
- scant 1/2 cup skimmed milk, 0.5% fat, fortified
- 1 medium onion, finely grated
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
To bake
- 2 tsp butter
- 1 tbsp light syrup (golden syrup)
- 1 1/4 cups beef broth
Sauce
- 2/3 cup beef broth
- 1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour (bleached)
- 3 tbsp cold water water
- 3 1/2 tbsp half fat creme fraiche
- 1 tsp soy sauce, for colour
To serve
- 5 medium potatoes, peeled
- 1 1/4 cups lingonberries, fresh or frozen
- 2 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
Steps
- Cut the core out of the cabbage and lower the whole head into a big pot of boiling salted water. As the outer leaves soften, after 2–3 minutes, peel them off with tongs and lay them on a towel; carry on until you have 20. Shave down the thick rib on each leaf with a small knife so it rolls easily.
- Mix the beef, pork, cooked rice, egg, milk, grated onion, salt, white pepper and allspice into a soft, even mince.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Put a heaped spoon of filling at the stem end of each leaf, fold in the sides and roll up into a neat parcel. Brown the rolls seam side down in the butter in a large frying pan, in batches, 2–3 minutes a side, and lay them snugly in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle the syrup over them.
- Pour the broth into the hot pan to lift the browned bits, then pour it around the rolls. Bake 40–45 minutes, basting once or twice, until the tops are glossy and dark golden and the filling reads 160°F.
- Meanwhile boil the potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes, and stir the lingonberries with the sugar until it dissolves. They stay pleasantly tart; add more sugar to taste.
- Pour the juices from the dish into a saucepan with the extra broth and bring to the boil. Whisk the flour into the cold water, whisk it into the pan and simmer 3–4 minutes until smooth. Take off the heat, stir in the crème fraiche and soy sauce, and taste for salt. Serve the kåldolmar with the potatoes, sauce and lingonberries.
Good to know
The leaves tear. What am I doing wrong?
Usually they need another minute in the water, or the rib is too thick. A savoy cabbage is softer and easier to roll if your white cabbage fights back; freezing the whole head overnight and thawing it softens the leaves without boiling.
Can I make them ahead?
Yes, they are even better the next day. Bake, cool and chill them in their juices, then reheat covered at 350°F for 25 minutes and make the sauce then.
Should I use more syrup?
If you like them sweet and sticky, two tablespoons is the old-fashioned amount, at about the same score.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 82
- Protein
- (27%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (24%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (49%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 175 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2124 kcal goes into the pot and 2954 g of ingredients comes out as about 2585 g of food: 82 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.