Greek lahanodolmades are cabbage rolls that wrap a meat filling and are usually presented bathed in a lemon sauce called avgolemono, widely used in the kitchen of that country.
The Greek word for cabbage is λάχανο while dolmades comes from Turkish and means "stuffed". Therefore lahanodolmades means stuffed cabbage leaves.
INGREDIENTS (6/8 people)
For the cabbage dolma:
• 2 Kg (4.4 lbs) of cabbage
• 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of minced meat (beef, pork or a mixture of both)
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of rice
• 1 large purple onion
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped dill
• extra virgin olive oil
• ground black pepper
• Salt
For the lemon sauce
• 2 butter spoons
• Half tablespoon of white wheat flour
• The juice of 1 lemon
• 150 ml (3/4 cups) of milk
• ground black pepper
• Salt
The first thing we need to do is prepare the cabbage. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage, carefully open the leaves and wash them well.
In a large, deep pot, add a little water and bring to a boil. Take some of the cabbage leaves and blanch them in boiling water briefly. Doing this with the cabbage leaves will make them softer and easier to roll.
Remove the leaves from the pot and place them on a clean work surface. Once they cool a bit, remove the thick white stem of the leaves.
Prepare the stuffing for the cabbage rolls. In a large bowl add the ground beef, rice, chopped onions, parsley, dill, egg whites, chopped pepper, and half a teaspoon of salt. We knead the mixture well so that the flavors permeate the meat. At the moment all the ingredients, including the rice, are raw.
Now we are going to stuff the cabbage leaves. We take a leaf, place it on a flat surface (if it is too big, cut it into 2 or 3 smaller pieces), add a tablespoon of the filling in the center being careful not to overcrowd the rolls, as the rice will expand during cooking.
Fold the bottom section of the sheet over the filling toward the center, bringing the two sides toward the center as well, and pinch to close the roll. Continue with the rest of the leaves.
Now we are going to boil the rolls. To do this, we place them in a large and deep pan where, if possible, all the rolls can be placed in contact with the base. Fill with water to just the height of the rolls and place a plate on top that can bear the fire to prevent rolls from falling apart. Add a little more water and bring to a boil. When the water boils, lower the heat to a minimum and let it cook for an hour.
While the rolls are done we are going to prepare the sauce. Melt the butter over medium heat, add the well sifted flour and beat to form a paste. Next, pour in the lemon juice and cook slowly adding the milk little by little while continuing to beat (pay attention to this, because the lemon can cut the milk if we are not careful). We remove until it thickens a little - with the thickness of a vegetable cream, for example -.
Remove the cabbage rolls, drain the water well and serve covered with the lemon sauce and sprinkled with chopped black pepper on top.
They are served hot, more rarely cold.