Golubtsi
Golubtsi is popular dish in many Eastern European countries and the Middle East made of cabbage leaves stuffed with a variety of ingredients. Very similar to dolma, which uses grape leaves.
In Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia, cabbage rolls with smoked pork are very popular at Christmas. They are cooked in a skillet or baked in the oven. In Romania, besides Christmas and New Year, they are also common dish for weddings, baptisms and other major holidays. Romanians use grape leaves as well and in the stuffing they add smoked pork fat, sausage, ribs and certainly dill. In Sweden, cabbage rolls are eaten with boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam. In Ukraine boiled cabbage leaves are sometimes substituted with pickled or steamed cabbage leaves. In Egypt they use fresh cabbage leaves and rarely fill with meat, instead they usually add rice and vegetables, along with different spices and herbs, such as mint or cumin.
Usually my mom and grandmother cooked golubtsi with beef and rice filling, but you can add mushrooms or do a vegetable filling which is a great idea for vegetarians. Sometimes we also wrapped the stuffing in grape leaves, they are a little bit sour and have a different texture. There is also ‘lazy golubtsi’ where the cabbage is chopped and put inside the meat so there is no need to wrap the filling in a cabbage leaf, just need to make meatballs.
Here are some recipes:
https://internationalmenu.com/?s=golubtsi
