Golumpki

We finally found a Polish deli in Seattle (George's), so we cooked up some fresh kielbasa and pierogis, and I made golumpki. Ellie got her own golumpki (minus all spices, and with just V8 instead of the sauce). I also made an extra bag of rice to eat later in the week.

For the filling:
1 lb ground beef (80/20)
2 cups of cooked brown rice (I use one bag of Uncle Ben's boil-in-bag)
1 onion, chopped and cooked
1 egg
Salt and pepper
Onion powder

Mix the raw ground beef, cooked rice and onions, egg, and spices in a bowl.

For the cabbage:
Carefully remove the large outer leaves of one large head of cabbage. Cut a "V" to remove the rib from each leaf. Once you reach the part of the cabbage where the leaves are too small to roll, remove the core, and roughly chop the rest of the head. Boil the cabbage in a large pot for 2-3 minutes, until slightly softened. Put into a colander and allow to cool.

For the sauce:
1 32-oz bottle of reduced sodium V8
1 tablespoon of sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
Onion powder

Combine all of the ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes.

Assembly:
Ladle some sauce into a 13x9 Pyrex pan to lightly coat the bottom. Line the bottom of the pan with half of the chopped cabbage.

Put a small amount of the beef mixture (a few tablespoons) onto a cabbage leaf and roll it up, wrapping the ends under. Place each roll into the pan until done.

Top the rolls with half of the remaining sauce. Top with the remaining chopped cabbage, and then the remaining sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.