Mom's cabbage rolls

My mom is the only person I know who makes cabbage rolls like this - sweet and sour.  It's also a wonderful comfort food.   If painstakingly dissecting a cabbage, then using the leaves to hand roll these treats isn't love, I don't know what is!

I find the process of peeling away the cabbage leaves, without ripping them, strangely meditative.

If your loved ones don't like raisins, brown sugar and lemon juice in their cabbage (Leon doesn't), just leave them out.  You can add it to your serving at the last minute if you have to.  I think this recipe, which includes onions in the beef, has some zing that I don't find in the halupkis made at local church picnics around Berwick and Bloomsburg, even without the raisins, sugar and lemon juice.

Ingredients:

1 large, loose head of cabbage.
2 TB oil
2 sliced onions
2 large cans of tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
3 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 pound ground beef
3 Tbs. rice, cooked al dente
4 Tbs. grated onion
1 egg
3 Tbs cold water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup seedless golden raisins

1. Cook the rice

2. Cook the cabbage. You can boil it for an hour.  Or you can stick it in the microwave with a little water and steam it until leaves are soft enough to gently separate.  Run it under cold water when you're done, either way.

3. Heat oil in a really LARGE pot.  Lightly brown the sliced onions. Then add the tomatoes and mash them. Add 1/2 of the salt and pepper. Cook on low for 30 minutes.

4. While the tomatoes cook, mix the beef, rice, grated onion, egg and water.  Roll the mixture into a ball and put in the curve of a cabbage leaf. Tuck in the sides around the meatball and then roll it up, like a burrito.

5. Place the rolls in the sauce. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours.

6. Add the brown sugar, lemon juice and raisins to taste. Cook 30 minutes longer.