Skip to content

AI-generated image

Share this recipe

Lenivye golubtsy

Lazy cabbage roll patties

Lenivye golubtsy (Ленивые голубцы): 'lazy' cabbage roll patties braised in tomato and sour cream

Rolling proper golubtsy takes an afternoon, so Soviet working mothers invented the lazy version: shred the cabbage, mix it straight into the mince and rice, shape oval patties and braise them in a tomato and sour-cream sauce. It became a staple of factory canteens in Leningrad and Kyiv and is now a weeknight dinner across Russia, served with mashed potato or just bread. The patties taste exactly like stuffed cabbage, only softer. The mince is beef and pork. The common mistake is using raw rice, which stays hard inside the patties; it must be part-cooked first. Chef's tip: squeeze the blanched cabbage hard in a cloth, or the patties will be too wet to hold their shape.
Total time
70 min
Difficulty
medium
Serves
4
One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves4

For the patties

For the sauce

  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 7 oz sour cream
  • 1 ¼ cups hot water
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp dillchopped

Shop this recipe on Amazon

Fresh ingredients (7)

Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.

Method

0/5 done
  1. Step 1: Boil 2 ⅞ oz round-grain rice in plenty of water for 10 minutes until half-cooked, then drain. Pour boiling water over 14 oz white cabbage, leave 3 minutes, drain, cool and squeeze out as much water as you can.

    10 min
  2. Step 2: Mix 1 ⅛ lb minced pork and beef, cabbage, rice, 1 onion, 1 egg, 1 ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper well with your hands. Shape 12 oval patties with wet hands and dust them in 3 tbsp plain flour.

    5 min
  3. Step 3: Heat 3 tbsp sunflower oil in a deep frying pan over a medium-high heat and brown the patties for 3 minutes a side until golden. They will finish cooking in the sauce.

    8 min
  4. Step 4: Whisk 2 tbsp tomato purée, 7 oz sour cream, 1 ¼ cups hot water and ½ tsp salt and pour over the patties. Tuck in 1 bay leaf.

    2 min
  5. Step 5: Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes, until the sauce is thick and pink and the patties reach 160°F in the middle. Scatter with 2 tbsp dill and serve.

    30 min

Nutrition per serving

Calories
470 kcal
Protein
25 g
Carbs
32 g
Fat
26 g
Fibre
4 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does lenivye golubtsy take?
About 70 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?
4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
What can I use instead of white cabbage?
Savoy or spring greens, same weight.
What can I use instead of round-grain rice?
Any long-grain rice, same amount.

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

Sign in to rate and review this recipe.

Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles

Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.

by KrazyBadal 2 views

Pfälzer SaumagenStuffed pig's stomach

Saumagen is the pride of the Palatinate, served at wine-village festivals and family dinners from the Haardt hills to Ludwigshafen. A cleaned pig's stomach is stuffed with diced pork shoulder, pork sausage meat, potato and carrot seasoned with marjoram and nutmeg, poached slowly, then sliced thick and fried until crusty. The stomach works only as a casing and is ordered from a butcher; if you can't get one, bake the same filling in a covered terrine in a water bath. Serve with sauerkraut and mashed potato. Chef's tip: fill the stomach only three-quarters full, or it bursts as the potatoes swell.

225 minGermanMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 1 views

Pork souvlaki

This is a pork recipe. Walk through any Greek town after dark, from Athens to Thessaloniki, and the smell of souvlaki stands drifts down the street; cubes of pork shoulder grilled on thin skewers are the country's favourite cheap supper, eaten standing up or at a plastic-table taverna. At home you marinate the meat in lemon, olive oil, garlic and dried oregano, grill it hard and fast, and pile it on warm pitta with tzatziki, tomato and red onion. Chef's tip: cut the pork into even 2.5 cm cubes and leave a little fat on; lean loin dries out, shoulder stays juicy over high heat.

32 minGreekMeat
by KrazyBadal 1 views