Cabbage roll casserole

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 700 g minced meat, mixed
• 1 egg(s)
• 2 tbsp fried onions
• 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
• e.g. salt and pepper
• n. B. Paprika powder, sweet
• e.g. Paprika powder, hot
• e.g. cumin
• 800 g potatoes, floury or mostly waxy
• 200 ml milk
• nutmeg
• 1 small savoy cabbage, white cabbage or pointed cabbage
• 2 onions
• 150 g diced ham
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp oil or lard for frying
• 50 g butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes

I don’t like convenience foods, but homemade cabbage rolls are really time-consuming. This casserole tastes even better and is much less work!

Knead the minced meat with the eggs and fried onions. Add enough breadcrumbs to make a meatball dough that’s easy to shape. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin. Then, with wet hands, form the mixture into small balls the size of a cherry. Peel and dice the potatoes, and cook in salted water until tender. Meanwhile, heat the milk, but do not boil. Drain the potatoes, steam them, and mash them with a potato masher or press them through a potato ricer. Mix in enough hot milk to make a creamy mashed potato. Season the mash with salt and nutmeg. Trim the cabbage and cut it into wide strips, leaving the stalks intact. Blanch in salted water or steam in a steamer until tender but still firm to the bite. Reserve the stock. Peel and roughly dice the onions. Now heat the oil or lard in a pan and fry the meatballs all over until crisp. Then remove the meatballs and set aside. They can still be raw on the inside; they will cook better later in the casserole. Fry the onions and ham cubes in the frying fat. When the onions are translucent, sprinkle over 2 teaspoons of sweet paprika and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and fry. Add the tomato paste and fry. Then deglaze with about a cup of cabbage stock and reduce to a creamy sauce. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, sweet and hot paprika, and cumin. Pour the sauce into a casserole dish. Arrange the meatballs on top. Spread the cabbage on top in a layer about a finger thick, season with salt and pepper. Finally, spread the mashed potatoes over the cabbage. This works best if you first place thick dollops on the savoy cabbage and then spread them together. Roughen the surface of the puree with a fork, then place the butter in small pieces on top of the casserole. Bake the casserole in a preheated oven at 200°C for about 1 hour, until the casserole is bubbling and the surface is nicely browned. Tip: For an extra crispy crust, sprinkle the surface of the casserole with a very thin layer of breadcrumbs halfway through baking.