Cooking Class - Cabbage Rolls with Meat and Vinegret Salad

Our Tour Leader, Taras, is not just great at making sure you have an amazing experience while on tour, he is also a Ukrainian food specialist and master chef in the kitchen!

Discover Ukrainian cuisine, try Taras’ mouthwatering recipes and check out his two best-selling cookbooks! Read more about Taras here.

Today, Taras shows us how to make meat-filled cabbage rolls. Cabbage rolls are a hearty Ukrainian dish that can be filled with anything you like, from potato to buckwheat. These are filled with rice and meat, and he’ll even show us how to serve them in 3 different styles!

PLUS learn to make a delicious and simple winter salad, known in Ukraine as a “Vinegret”, using all those tasty vegetables left over from the last of the harvest. These wholesome dishes will fill you with joy on cold winter days!

Keep reading for our recipes for:

1) Meat Cabbage Rolls

2) “Vinegret” Salad

Taras will be showing us how to cook these recipes at his LIVE Cooking Show Launch on
Monday 7th February.

Join us on Facebook. See the event here.

Recipes below:

Meat & Rice Filled Cabbage Rolls Recipe

Exclusive! This recipe is not in Taras’ cookbook, we shared it here, just for you!

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage
2 red peppers
2 onions
1 cup of rice
250 grams of pork meat
50 grams of pork fat OR bacon
2 Tbsp of butter

For the Sauce:

400 grams Mushrooms
1 cup of cream
2 cloves of garlic

Directions:

Soak the rice in 2 cups hot water.
Chop all your meat into 1 inch chunks. Combine the meat and pork fat/bacon in food processor, add some salt and pepper, and blend together.
Once the meat has cooked through, drain the rice then add to the onion and meat, and continue frying for 10 minutes (2 minutes from the end, add 1 grated garlic clove).
Meanwhile, parboil the cabbage in a pot of hot salted water (you can either boil the entire cabbage and then proceed to peel the leaves off, or boil them individually. Covering the pan helps it cook faster. ) Remove once the leaves start to wilt away from the head, about 10 minutes.
Cut the tops off your peppers and clean out the seeds.
For your first style of “rolls”, fill your peppers with the rice filling.
For the second and third styles, proceed to roll the cabbage rolls. Slice off any ‘ribs’ from the cabbage leaves to facilitate easier rolling. Place a heaped spoon of filling onto a leaf and roll tightly. Watch the video to see how Taras does it!
Place the rolls and peppers into an over proof dish, add 1-2 cups of water and your butter, then cover. Bake in the oven for 60-90 minutes at 150 C (300 Fahrenheit).

Mushroom gravy:

Peel and slice mushrooms. Fry in oil and add some salt.
Peel and slice onion, then add to mushrooms.
Add 1 grated garlic clove.
Fry for 10-15 minutes. Add cream and stir in to mushrooms and onion. Fry for 5 more minutes, then serve your cabbage rolls with your mushroom gravy. Enjoy!

Like our content? Sign up to our newsletter

“Vinegret” Winter Salad Recipe

Exclusive! This recipe is not in Taras’ cookbook, we shared it here, just for you!

Ingredients:

5 potatoes
3 red beets
1 carrot
1 pickle
1 cup of sauerkraut (You can learn to make it here)
2-3 Tbsp of beans (red or pinto)
Oil (olive/sunflower/canola)
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

In advance, cook your potatoes, carrots, & beets. Potatoes & carrots should be peeled & boiled whole. Beets can be boiled the peeled, or baked beets for 90 minutes at 300 Fahrenheit.
Once cooked, allow to cool.
Cut all vegetables into 1cm/ half inch cubes.
Chop your sauerkraut. Drain your beans (if canned)
Mix all ingredients, add some pepper and salt to taste, add oil and mix up again.
It’s that simple! Enjoy!

Check out Taras' cookbooks!

Choose from “Everyday Dishes”, or “Christmas and Easter Dishes” or BOTH

Button

In the US? Click here to view Amazon US.

Ukrainian cuisine is a delicious combination of traditions, history, and the abundance of our land’s natural wealth. Historically, Ukrainian cuisine and all the dishes we cook day-to-day combine many cultural and culinary influences from various European countries, whilst also being unique in themselves.

“Ukrainian Cooking in Taras’ Kitchen” provides a variety of recipes from across Ukraine to satisfy everyone’s appetite!

Christmas & Easter are beloved celebrations not only in Ukraine, but all around the world. These days are special, as they bring entire families together. Christmas Eve dinner usually consists of 12 traditional dishes – Taras lays out his favourite 12 Christmas dishes in this holiday cookbook, followed by a guide for the essential elements for your Easter basket. Enjoy traditions, holiday recipes, and time spent with family – cooking with Taras’ Kitchen!