Rolled cabbage recipe minus the rice

Can anyone give me a recipe for rolled/stuffed cabbage without rice or brown sugar?

- I made one once  that was pretty good- I think it had beef mince, chopped onions, egg, breadcrumbs - basically I made meatballs and cooked them- then stuffed the mixture inside the cooked cabbage, rolled up, covered in tomato sauce, popped in the oven, viola!

Any particular reason for the rice aversion?  Could you use barley, quinoa, millet instead- or don't you want that texture? 

This is my mom's recipe. Certainly nothing fancy. Sorry about the all caps, but it's cut and pasted from her emails! Just omit the rice if you don't want to add it. 

I JUST MIX THEM UP LIKE I DO FOR MEATBALLS AND SPRINKLE IN SOME RICE. I MIX A CAN OF TOMATO SOUP AND TOMATO SAUCE AND POUR OVER THE MEATBALLS. SINCE NO ONE BUT ME LIKES THE CABBAGE I ALWAYS CUT UP PIECES AND STICK IT AROUND THE BALLS IN THE SAUCE. I LIKE TO HAVE IT COVERED BY SAUCE ORIT DRIES OUT AND DOESN'T COOK. I BAKE IT AT 350 FOR 1 1/2 HR.(DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF THE BALLS) USE AS MUCH MEAT AS YOU WANT..I USED ABOUT 1 1/2 LB OF BEEF BUT I WANTED LEFTOVERS FOR BOTH OF US.

Then, when I told her I had no idea how to make meatballs, she said this:

USE A POUND OR MORE OF GROUND MEAT..CRACKER CRUMBS (MAYBE 5 OR SIX OR USE SOME BREAD CRUMBS..SOME ONIONS, SALT AND PEPPER AND ONE EGG...IF TOO MUSHY ADD MORE CRACKERS OR CRUMBS..IF DRY ADD A BIT OF WATER. I USUALLY USE A POUND TO A POUND AND A HALF OF MEAT TO THIS RATIO. I ALSO DO NOT USE REAL LEAN GROUND BEEF..THE 80% DOES WELL,,NOT TOO MUCH FAT BUT ENOUGH TO MAKE IT BETTER FLAVOR THAN THE REAL LEAN.

Thanks you guys! I'm on a low carb diet so I'm staying away from rice at the moment. Both those recipes are very similar to how I make my meatloaf so I guess I'll just use my meatloaf recipe but I may try the tomato soup instead of the usual tomato juice.

Oh good, let us know how it comes out!! 

My mom makes to die for cabbage rolls. Based on an old Better Homes and Gardens recipe book. There is an extra step because the meat is cooked prior to being stuffed  into the rolls.

Basically take your larger leaves and parboil them until softish (rollable.) Cut out thick rib to make rolling easier. Set aside.  You then need the filling.  In a large frying pan brown around 1 lb minced beef and one onion.  Season with garlic, black pepper  and salt to taste.  Add a few shakes of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Again taste it to make sure it's developing well.  At this point she adds rice but you can leave it out.  You could also finely mince other veggies like carrots or celery when you add the onion.  Then add a bit of thyme.  Then stir in a beaten egg or two. Let that sit aside.  In another pan put a little olive oil and add in two or three cans of crushed tomatoes, a pinch of thyme, salt, black  pepper and garlic.  Let this simmer until it thickens a bit and you can add a pinch of sugar if it's too bitter. (Since you are low carbing just leave that one out.)  Put a layer of tomato on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan (or smaller depending on how much you want to make.)    Roll up the meat filling in the cabbage rolls piecing together if needed.  Once the pan is full top with as much sauce as you want and bake covered  at 350 for about 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 5 minutes more.  She always makes extra sauce to put on top if people want more and makes one spicy by adding hot pepper to it.  I don't have exact measurements so I hope you can follow it okay.    It's a great filling for all sorts of veggies like eggplant and zucchini. 

make cauliflower rice instead of real rice!

Thanks you guys! I'm on a low carb diet so I'm staying away from rice at the moment. Both those recipes are very similar to how I make my meatloaf so I guess I'll just use my meatloaf recipe but I may try the tomato soup instead of the usual tomato juice.

If you're really looking for something different, cover with a layer of sour cream before covering with tomato sauce. *said she, and set off a chorus of 1000 'eew's*

make cauliflower rice instead of real rice!

What's that?

If you're really looking for something different, cover with a layer of sour cream before covering with tomato sauce. *said she, and set off a chorus of 1000 'eew's*

Actually, that sounds really good....!!

What's that?

cook cauliflower and put it through a potato ricer, then fry it a bit to make it like fried rice.

cook cauliflower and put it through a potato ricer, then fry it a bit to make it like fried rice.

Which I'm going to try tomorrow as my ricer arrived today!

cook cauliflower and put it through a potato ricer, then fry it a bit to make it like fried rice.

I'll try that one day! Except that I don't have a potato ricer. I use an old-fashioned masher.

If you're really looking for something different, cover with a layer of sour cream before covering with tomato sauce. *said she, and set off a chorus of 1000 'eew's*

Just reading this. Doesn't sound "eew" at all. I always have creme fraiche in the house so maybe I'll give it a try!

It definitely puts a more central/eastern european spin on it, rather than say, just like an italian meatball stuffed in cabbage