Yabrak Malfouf or Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Our family always enjoys stuffed cabbage rolls or as they are called in Arabic – Yabrak Malfouf. These are so good, warm out of the oven but even better cold for a quick snack.

This is a great meal to make in the fall when there is such an abundance of cabbage at the farmers markets. You can use just about any type of cabbage in season. For the ingredients you can use for the meat ground beef, lamb, chicken or turkey. Vegetarians can eliminate the meat portion. Fresh or canned tomatoes, lemon juice, dried mint, salt, pepper, cinnamon, allspice and rice.

Here is the recipe-

1 lb of ground meat, 1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes (1/2 cup added to the mix, save the rest for the top of the cabbsge rolls) 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tbsp dried mint, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 head of cabbage or the ready made jared cabbsge leaves which can be found in mediterranean specialty stores.

Preheat oven 350 degrees. (A tip- if you use fresh cabbage, the night before add to your freezer and the next day process in pot of water boiling. It cooks faster and the leaves are easier to roll) Take the prepared cabbage out of the boiling water and when using a leaf section cut off the stem. In a separate bowl add the ingredients except for the lemon juice. Add about a tablespoon of the stuffing onto the cabbage roll and roll tightly then tuck the sides and continue to roll. Place the rolled cabbage rolls in a casserole dish fitting all the rolls in tightly. Top with remaining tomatoes and juice and add a topping of dried mint. You can add additional water to cover. Bake for 30 minutes and at the end add the lemon juice and finish another 10 minutes of cooking.