Malfouf consists of cabbage stuffed with a mixture of rice, ground beef, garlic and spices, cooked in a a garlic and lemon broth. It's a labour of love, but oh so worth it!
2teaspoonsallspice, or replace with seven spice mixture
1/2teaspoonblack pepper
2.5teaspoonssalt
For the Cooking Broth:
2cubeschicken stock, or vegetable
6cupshot water
6lemons, juiced
1/4cupolive oil
2teaspoondried mint
2teaspoonssalt
8clovesgarlic
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Instructions
To prepare the cabbage:
Start by carving out the cabbage root, all around, and digging as deep as you can. This step will detach the cabbage leaves and loosen them easily in the next step. Be careful when doing this - Cabbage is hard to cut through with a knife, so do this slowly!
Next, to a pot of boiling water, add the salt and the head of cabbage and allow it to boil for a few minutes, flipping it on both sides.
Once boiling, you can start to loosen the leaves using a pair of tongs, and they should come off easily. Keep separating the leaves, and if you find some of them are very thick and hard, keep them in the water for a few extra minutes to soften them.
Loosen the leaves until you reach the middle which won't have any more large enough leaves to stuff. You can save it to use in another recipe. Repeat with the second head of cabbage.
Remove the leaves and place on a paper towel lined tray or a colander to drain. Allow them to cool.
To prepare the filling:
Finely dice the onions and crush the garlic cloves called for in the filling
Mix together the washed short grain rice, ground beef, onions, garlic, and the spices. Use your hands (you can use gloves if you need to) to ensure the meat and the rice are mixed together very well
Rolling the cabbage:
To prepare the cabbage leaves for rolling, place one leaf on a cutting board and cut away the thick rib in the middle of the leaf using a knife or kitchen scissors. Then continue cutting upwards from where the rib was to form two equal sized pieces
Place 1-2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of the cabbage leaf and pack it together and spread it out slightly, leaving an inch of space near each of the edges
Roll the cabbage upwards, maintaining a tight grip. There is no need to fold the edges over, as the cabbage leaves are sturdy and won't leak any of the filling whilst cooking
Continue rolling all of the leaves until the filling is finished (you should only have a few leaves left, but if you end up with leftover filling, read the notes)
Cooking the Malfouf:
In a non-stick pot, drizzle a bit of olive oil and lay a few cabbage leaves at the bottom. Start stacking the cabbage rolls in the pot tightly next to each other
Mix together the broth ingredients (except for the garlic cloves and mint) and pour over the cabbage rolls. Sprinkle over the garlic cloves and the mint, and place a plate inverted on top
Bring to a boil on medium high heat. Once boiling, decrease the heat to medium and simmer for 1.5 hours, checking on it after the one hour mark. Adjust the seasoning by adding more salt, or more lemon juice per preference
Remove from heat after testing a piece and ensuring that the cabbage is really soft. Serve with more lemon juice and a side of tangy yogurt!
Notes
For best results, use green cabbage. I like it because of its smooth look. Savoy cabbage is softer and will work too, but will look a lot more wrinkly
Depending on how much you stuff your rolls, you may or may not have leftover filling. If you do, you can cook it as a rice pilaf with some water and serve it as a side (always a hit with the kids), or you can stuff something else like a pepper and stick it in the pot too
The key to this recipe is LOTS of garlic and lots of lemon juice, so don't skimp on either of those! Cooked cabbage on its own can be bland, and that's why we need to amp up the flavour