Such a healthy, nutritious and tasty dish as cabbage rolls is undoubtedly one of the favorite dishes of the whole family. However, preparing this delicious dish is a very labor-intensive task. Therefore, resourceful housewives have learned to prepare cabbage to create cabbage rolls without using boiling water, softening it in the microwave.
Processing a whole head of cabbage rolls for cabbage rolls in the microwave
How to cook a whole head of cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave? To begin with, you should select a good small head of cabbage, with a solid leaf structure and the absence of any damage or dark spots.
Young fruits are best suited for preparing cabbage rolls, as their leaves are soft and easy to process. After washing and cutting out the stalk, you can start cooking the vegetable in the microwave.
There is the following method for the basic processing of a cabbage head:
After removing large veins, processed cabbage leaves are completely ready for the next stage of preparing cabbage rolls.
Preparing individual cabbage leaves
It should be mentioned once again that young cabbage is much more amenable to heat treatment than completely mature heads of cabbage. This is also important when softening individual leaves of a white vegetable crop.
How to prepare cabbage with separate leaves for cabbage rolls in the microwave? So, for leaf processing of early cabbage, you will need to carry out the following manipulations:
- The leaves must be separated from the cabbage head and placed in a heat-resistant bowl, spraying them with plain water;
- The container with the product is placed in the oven and heated at high temperature for a couple of minutes;
- If necessary, you should re-bring the workpieces to the desired state by placing them in the microwave.
It is important to remember that thick veins should be cut out only when the product is softened; otherwise, the leaves will disintegrate and will be unsuitable for preparing the main dish.
A more mature fruit with a dense structure will require deeper processing. In this case, the leaves should be placed in a bowl filled with water and boiled for 5-7 minutes at medium power in a microwave oven. If necessary, you can repeat the procedure to achieve the desired result.
The fastest way to process cabbage
Any housewife wants the cabbage leaves to become pliable and ready to work with minced meat as quickly as possible. There is another recipe for quickly softening vegetables - processing using a baking bag. So, how to very quickly make cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave in a bag:
- The prepared vegetable must be placed in a heat-resistant bag, making several holes in different places with a fork.
- In this form, the forks should be placed in the microwave and steamed at maximum power for 3 minutes.
- After removing from the oven, the vegetable should be immersed under running cold water and begin to remove the leaves.
- If any obstacles arise, the cabbage head must be put back into the bag and into the microwave until the desired result is achieved.
- The last step is to cut off the hard veins, thereby completing the preparation.
The leaves become translucent and absolutely soft, it’s easy and quick to wrap the filling in them, and the cabbage rolls themselves will look beautiful on a plate.
Besides the microwave, there are also more traditional methods for softening the cabbage queen of the fields. Among them are:
- steam processing (in a double boiler);
- boiling in a saucepan;
- baking in the oven;
- defrosting cabbage in the microwave (if the product was previously in the freezer).
Also, some housewives advise to quickly separate the leaves by simply pouring boiling water into the hole from the cut stalk. This way they will scald and quickly disintegrate. In addition, you can further soften the minced meat frame in the following ways:
- beat with a meat mallet;
- knead with your hands after heat treatment;
- cool the leaves naturally, without immersing them in cold water after processing;
- additionally boil individual leaves in boiling water for about 10 minutes.
Whatever method the kitchen owner chooses, any of them will “play” equally well in skillful hands.
Conclusion
Concluding the story about preparing cabbage for cabbage rolls, we should once again dwell on the key points that contribute to the good preparation of this dish:
- Before you start cooking, you should choose the right head of cabbage, which is suitable for preparing cabbage rolls.
- Choose the method of processing leaves that is more familiar and convenient for the housewife.
- Use softened vegetable leaves for their intended purpose, enjoying the pleasant cooking process.
Calories: Not specified
Cooking time: Not indicated
Often, when preparing to make cabbage rolls, we carefully choose cabbage. In addition to being the right size, the fork must be soft and loose. This type of cabbage makes it easier to remove the leaves. But still, the process is not very short: we cut the stalk, place the cabbage in a saucepan with boiling water for a few minutes (the time depends on the type of cabbage), then remove it from the water, carefully (hotly!) remove a few leaves and repeat this until all We will not remove the leaves. But you have to be very careful with young cabbage - it tears so quickly that stuffing the leaves with minced meat becomes problematic.
If you use a microwave oven to disassemble cabbage into leaves, the process will be a pleasure. It takes neither your time nor your energy. Watch how to make cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave to soften and prepare a delicious dish. If you are desperately short of time to cook, this one will help you.
- cabbage;
- sleeve for baking.
How to cook with photos step by step
We select cabbage that is not very large in size - it will heat up quickly and evenly in the microwave. Remove the top, unusable leaves. As a rule, they are bright green in color and are often flabby, dirty and spoiled.
Then, using a sharp knife, carefully cut out part of the stalk - go 2-3 cm deeper. We also trim the leaves at the base to make them easier to remove. 
Place the head of cabbage in a baking sleeve and tie the ends tightly (or secure with a tie). You can also place the head of cabbage in a thick plastic bag of a suitable size (only one that must be intended for food products).
Place the bag of cabbage in the microwave. Turn it on at full power. We soak cabbage weighing 1 kg for 12 minutes (with an oven power of 700 watts), for cabbage weighing 600 - 700 g, 5-6 minutes is enough.
If the cabbage is small (600 - 700 g), it will have time to be fully cooked. Carefully, so as not to get burned, unravel the bag, take out the cabbage and let it cool for 5-7 minutes, and then carefully separate all the leaves one by one and place them on a plate to cool.
All cabbage leaves will be equally soft, elastic, will retain a greenish color, and will not tear (even if it is young cabbage).
If the cabbage weighs about 1.5 kg or more, some of the inner leaves will not have time to steam, therefore, after removing the soft leaves, we place the remaining head of cabbage in the same sleeve for another 2-5 minutes. Then cool the same way and remove the remaining leaves. Pay attention to this one too.
The holding time in the microwave oven depends on the variety and density of the cabbage, and the power of the oven. Having prepared cabbage for cabbage rolls a couple of times in this way, you will clearly understand how long a kilogram head of cabbage should be kept in the oven.
If you don’t want to wait for the head of cabbage to cool a little, you can place it in cold water for 3-4 minutes and then transfer it to a colander to drain excess water.
The result was soft, neat, whole cabbage leaves. All that remains is to cut off the dense veins and you can begin to form cabbage rolls.
Which has many analogues in Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines. It consists of minced vegetables or meat with boiled rice or buckwheat, wrapped in soft cabbage leaves.
Currently, there are several varieties of this dish with different fillings.
Wrapping cabbage rolls is a rather labor-intensive process, so many cooks use a simpler option for preparing them.
General information about the dish
Traditional cabbage rolls are considered to be products made from minced meat wrapped in cabbage leaves. The process of preparing such a dish may take you several hours. This is due not only to the lengthy production of the filling, but also to the formation of the semi-finished products themselves.
Cooking features
As you know, cabbage is a multi-layered vegetable that is particularly tough and crunchy. If you crush the leaves of this product, they will break. Therefore, to prepare cabbage rolls, they must be subjected to heat treatment. Only in this case will the vegetable become softer and more pliable.
Processing options
Cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave is processed quite rarely. After all, many housewives are accustomed to doing this using a stove. However, this process is longer and more labor-intensive. Therefore, we decided to tell you how to prepare cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave.
Vegetable selection
Before that, you need to choose it correctly. Vegetables for such a dish should be taken in small sizes. The head of cabbage should not be covered with mold or other rot. The most suitable cabbage for cabbage rolls is a small, firm, light-colored cabbage. This vegetable will make your dish tender and very tasty.
How to process?
Few people know how to soften cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave. Before describing this simple process, we should tell you how the vegetable needs to be properly processed.
The head of cabbage is washed thoroughly in cool water. At the same time, all surface leaves that are unfit for consumption are removed from it. They may be affected by mold and rot. The main thing is that the thickness of the vegetable is clean and not affected by insects.
Method one. How to prepare cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave?
After the vegetable has been processed and peeled, it is placed on a flat plate intended for the microwave oven. In this case, the cabbage must be placed with the stalk down.
In this form, the product is sent to the microwave. At maximum power, the vegetable is cooked for about 10-11 minutes. During this time, the head of cabbage should become soft and hot. It is taken out and immediately washed under running cold water. As a result of simple manipulations, all the leaves are removed from the cabbage one by one. They should be as soft as possible and move away from the stalk almost on their own.
As you can see, cabbage for cabbage rolls cooks quite quickly in the microwave. The disadvantage of this method is that the upper layers of the leaves may become too soft and fall apart right in your hands.
Method two. How to cook cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave quickly?
In the event that you do not want to keep the vegetable in the microwave oven for too long so that it does not boil, we suggest using another method of preparing it. The cabbage is also washed and the surface leaves are removed. Next, it is placed on a plate and the product should remain for five to seven minutes (at maximum power).
After time has passed, it is removed and immediately washed with cold water. During this process, the top leaves, which have already softened slightly, are removed from the cabbage. This should be done until you reach tougher leaves.
Cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave is processed several times in this way. After separating the soft leaves, the head of cabbage is again sent to the microwave oven and kept for about three to four minutes.
Similar procedures are carried out until the entire vegetable is disassembled into leaves that are soft and suitable for cabbage rolls.
Method three
Cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave to soften can be processed in different ways. The two most popular methods were presented above. However, some housewives carry out this process using ordinary drinking water.
The vegetable is thoroughly washed, unnecessary elements in the form of surface leaves are cut off, and then placed in a deep plate designed for the microwave. Next, pour a little drinking water (about ½ cup) into the bowl. This method will help to obtain a more tender base for the meat dish.
Cabbage for cabbage rolls should be cooked in the microwave along with water for seven to eight minutes. In this case, the power of the microwave oven is set to the maximum value.
After time has passed, the vegetable, along with the tray of hot water, is carefully removed from the microwave and washed thoroughly, separating the leaves from the head of cabbage. If the leaves located closer to the stalk remain hard, then the product is kept in the microwave oven for some time.
Let's sum it up
As you can see, cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave to soften is prepared quite easily and quickly. This method will significantly save your time.
If you purchased a large vegetable to prepare a meat dish and it does not fit in the microwave oven, then we suggest using the traditional method, which involves using a stove. To do this, the processed and peeled head of cabbage is placed in a large saucepan or iron basin, which is half filled with plain water. In this form, place the vegetable on high heat and wait until the liquid boils. Turning the cabbage the other side down, cook it for about 3-4 minutes. After this, remove the pan from the stove and keep its contents under a closed lid for about ¼ hour. During this time, the entire thickness of the product must be thermally treated, all cabbage leaves will soften.
In the event that this process of preparing vegetables is labor-intensive and time-consuming for you, we suggest using not a white cabbage product, but a Beijing one. As you know, it has very soft and delicate oval-shaped leaves. Therefore, there is no point in treating them thermally. All you need to do is separate the leaves from the base, rinse them thoroughly in cool water and immediately use them to form homemade semi-finished products.
Using non-standard methods for solving certain problems, housewives often achieve the desired result. For example, some of them claim that cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave in a matter of minutes becomes the ideal component needed to prepare a delicious finished product. Why is this treatment needed and what happens to the vegetable? These questions need to be addressed in more detail.
Preparing cabbage
Cooking is a complex process that consists of several mandatory steps. Each of them is important in its own way and affects the quality of the finished dish in a certain way. The first thing a housewife should be able to do is to properly prepare products for use. In practice, this sometimes causes certain difficulties. So, for example, to prepare cabbage rolls, you first need to disassemble the cabbage cabbage into leaves. But, knowing the features of this product, achieving the desired result can sometimes be very difficult. Experienced housewives use the following tricks to disassemble forks into their component parts:
- Pre-freezing.
- Cook in a large volume of water with salt.
- Baking in the oven.
- Microwave processing.
The last option actually turns out to be the simplest. Cabbage for cabbage rolls is processed in the microwave for just a few minutes. Nevertheless, this time turns out to be enough to subsequently disassemble even the densest head of cabbage without much difficulty. What is the main secret of this method? Cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave differs, for example, from a boiled product in that all its layers are processed simultaneously and in the same way. In other cases, the upper leaves will always be softer than those located inside.
How to disassemble a head of cabbage
How is cabbage processed for cabbage rolls in the microwave? In principle, this process is quite simple:
- First, like any other food product, the head of cabbage needs to be washed. It is better to do this under the tap so that you can remove all contaminants with running water.
- Place the product on a heat-resistant plate and place it in the microwave chamber. In this case, the device must be set to maximum power. The value will depend on the brand of the specific device.
- Set the panel to “Vegetables” mode.
- Wait 10 minutes. To avoid missing time, you can use a kitchen timer or a regular wristwatch.
- Remove the cabbage from the chamber and immediately immerse it in a container of cold water. The product should lie in it for several minutes.
- Remove the head of cabbage and place it on the stalk. For greater stability, it can be trimmed a little.
- Carefully unscrew the top sheet and then cut it off with a knife at the very base.
By acting in a similar way, you can easily unroll the entire head of cabbage.
Processing secrets
It's amazing how easy it is to prepare cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave. To soften the product, such processing can be carried out repeatedly. This will not harm the cabbage in any way. After warming up like this, it will only become softer.
This method has its own subtleties:
- The leaves of large heads of cabbage tend to have very thick veins. This significantly complicates the process of separating them. In this case, it is advisable to first make a rectangular cut around the stalk. The notches must be deep enough. As a result, when heated, the leaves will move away from the core more easily.
- Sometimes, immediately after processing, the top layers can be removed quite easily. But then the same problem arises. In order to remove the leaves inside, the head of cabbage needs to be heated again. To do this, you should put it in the microwave again. True, in this case five minutes will be enough.
- It is known that in a confined space many processes go much faster. Therefore, sometimes, to better separate the leaves, the head of cabbage can be placed in a plastic bag.
Considering these tips, disassembling any head of cabbage into individual leaves will not be difficult.
Combined method
Sometimes it can be difficult to decide how to prepare cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave. It seems that after heating, the leaves gradually unfold and can be easily separated from the stalk. But at the same time the cabbage remains hard and tough. It will not be possible to wrap minced meat in it. What to do in this case? The easiest way out of this situation is to re-process individual elements.
You need to put all the removed leaves in a bag, tie it (but not very tightly), and then put it in the microwave for just a couple of minutes. This trick produces results. Separately, the leaves are better processed. Their structure is further softened. The leaves become softer. They practically do not break. This is very good, because to wrap minced meat you need the most elastic product possible. It should roll up well and not crumble. This combined pre-treatment method makes it possible to obtain just such a product.
Ideal material
Cooking cabbage rolls is not as simple as it seems at first glance. This does not mean strict adherence to the recipe. The main problem with this dish is to turn the cabbage leaf into an ideal material for wrapping the filling.
Using different methods, experts concluded that it is best to process cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls in the microwave. All other methods do not give such an amazing result. After cooking, for example, cabbage leaves sometimes soften to such an extent that they begin to tear without waiting for the very moment of wrapping. Most often this happens with young vegetables. Therefore, it is better not to use the earliest cabbage for preparing cabbage rolls. This does not happen with a microwave oven. Even after final cooling, the leaves remain perfectly soft. In addition, they become almost transparent. After wrapping, the minced meat inside can even be seen through them. This product looks very impressive on a plate.
It’s not enough to just figure out how to make cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave. It is also necessary, taking into account the recommendations of experienced housewives, to learn a few useful tips that will never be superfluous. First, you need to remember that cabbage with thick veins has been very common lately. After processing, they, of course, become much softer without losing their volume. To make the sheet as flat as possible, existing thickenings on the outside can be carefully cut off with a sharp knife.
This will not change the structure of the sheet itself, but will make it more flexible and suitable for wrapping various fillings. If this still does not give the desired result, then you can use other advice. The toughest and most voluminous parts should be beaten a little using a meat mallet. The blows must be applied carefully so as not to flatten the sheet and turn it into a liquid “mash”. Otherwise, a hole will form in place of the vein, which can no longer be repaired.
Stuffed cabbage rolls are an original and incredibly tasty dish. But not all housewives cook it. The difficulty lies in preparing the cabbage leaves. The key to preparing delicious cabbage rolls lies in their correct selection and softening. Today we will discuss how to cook cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave.
General aspects
Every housewife, without exception, knows that preparing cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls is real flour. You first have to carefully separate the leaves, then boil them until softened, and cut off the veins.
As a result, each leaf should be evenly softened, thin and soft. But at the same time quite elastic and elastic. Otherwise, it will be impossible to wrap the cabbage rolls, and during the stewing process, the cabbage leaves will begin to tear, and the filling will simply fall out to the bottom of the pan.
Many housewives already know how to cook cabbage in the microwave for cabbage rolls and how many minutes this process takes. The duration of heat treatment depends on the functionality of the microwave oven, as well as the size of the cabbage fork.
Preparing cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave is very important. Before placing a head of cabbage in the microwave oven, follow these steps:
- Be sure to remove the top leaves if they are spoiled;
- Rinse the cabbage forks thoroughly with filtered water and dry with paper towels;
- Use a sharp knife to cut out the stalk.
All that’s left to do is to soften the leaves. There are several ways to do this, let's look at each of them in detail.
Dry preparation of cabbage leaves
Cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls can be boiled in the microwave even without water. To do this, you will need the vegetable itself and a plastic bag. It is better to choose forks weighing 1-1.5 kg. We start by preparing the whole head of cabbage.
Compound:
- 1 head of white cabbage.
Preparation:
On a note! Some housewives, after cooking cabbage leaves in a microwave oven, immediately place the cabbage leaves in a bowl of chilled water. And only then they disassemble it.
Speeding up the cooking process
How to soften cabbage for cabbage rolls in the microwave? This can be done in the traditional way - in water, but only in a short period of time.
On a note! First make deep cuts near the stalk. This will make the leaves easier to separate. It's even easier to cook young cabbage forks.
Compound:
- 300 ml filtered water;
- 1.5-2 kg of white cabbage.
Preparation:
- Rinse the cabbage forks thoroughly with running water.
- We carefully cut out the stalk and separate the forks into separate leaves.
- Each leaf can also be washed with filtered water if desired.
- Place cabbage leaves in a special bowl designed for cooking in a microwave oven.
- Fill them with filtered water and put them in the microwave.
- We select the maximum power, set the timer for 3-4 minutes.
- After the beep sounds, take out the cabbage leaves, cool a little and use them to prepare cabbage rolls.
Experienced housewives who are accustomed to preparing cabbage rolls according to their grandmother’s proven recipe are skeptical about this method of heat treatment of cabbage leaves. But progress does not stand still, so if you have a microwave oven in the kitchen, it would be a sin not to use it. Let's prepare cabbage leaves in several stages.
Compound:
- a head of white cabbage.
Preparation:
- We start traditionally by preparing a cabbage fork.
- Remove the top leaves.
- Wash the head of cabbage thoroughly with running water.
- We put it in a special glass container and put it in the microwave oven.
- Set the timer for 5-6 minutes and cook at maximum power until the sound signal sounds.
- We take out a head of cabbage and remove the top leaves that have softened.
- Again, place the rest of the head of cabbage in the microwave oven for 5-6 minutes.
- We carry out this algorithm until we have prepared the entire head of cabbage.
- We cut off the veins from the hot leaves.
One, two - and you're done: sharing secrets
Cooking cabbage rolls will give you great pleasure if you use a microwave oven. You can prepare cabbage leaves in the microwave by choosing one of the methods described above.
Compound:
- cabbage fork;
- 500-700 g minced meat;
- ½ tbsp. rice cereal;
- carrots – 1-2 root vegetables;
- tomato paste;
- filtered water;
- salt, pepper mixture and other seasonings - to taste.
Preparation:
- Prepare cabbage leaves as described above.
- We disassemble the forks into leaves, cut off the dense veins and put them aside for now.
- Place the chilled mixed minced meat into a deep bowl.
- Wash the rice grains thoroughly until the water is clear, and then boil until half cooked.
- Peel the carrots and wash them.
- Combine minced meat with boiled rice.
- Add salt, allspice and other seasonings and spices to taste.
- Mix everything thoroughly.
- You can also add finely chopped onion.
- In a separate bowl, immediately prepare the sauce.
- Pour the tomato paste with warm boiled water.
- Stir thoroughly. To taste, you can add granulated sugar, salt and table vinegar with a 9% concentration.
- Let's start preparing cabbage rolls.
- Place the prepared meat filling on the cabbage leaf.
- Wrap the cabbage leaf in an envelope.
- We roll up the remaining leaves in this way and place them in a thick-walled glass container.
- Pour the prepared tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls. The gravy should completely cover the cabbage rolls.
- Place the cabbage rolls in the microwave oven.
- Set the timer for 20 minutes.
- Cooking at maximum power.
On a note! If you feel like the cabbage rolls are still a little damp, you can put them back in the microwave and simmer for a few more minutes. Tomato sauce does not have to be made from paste; use canned or fresh tomatoes. The taste of cabbage rolls will be emphasized by sour cream filling.
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