Malfoof Mahshi - Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Ramadan Mubarak everyone! My first meal for Ramadan was this beautiful one right here. It was my first Ramadan I got to celebrate with my husband as a married couple and I wanted to make a delicious meal for the both of us. I boiled a whole cabbage and stuffed each leaf with a rice and ground beef stuffing that I seasoned with a simple blend of spices. I made sure to throw in plenty of garlic cloves between each layer to really get that flavor into the leaves! This was a perfect dish for the first day of Ramadan! It filled us up very well and it was served with a simple tomato soup!

Sprinkle lemon all over these for a perfect addition! The citrus flavors are just the right touch to the garlic and more earthy spices!

I used golden rice because that's all I had, but I suggest using Botan rice which has a slightly stickier consistency and is perfect for stuffing foods!

Mahshi, or stuffed vegetables, are truly some of my favorite meals to eat! They bring such natural flavors from the vegetable itself and the aromatic spices that season the stuffing are just the perfect blend! Although they are a bit tedious to prepare, they are so worth it in the end!

Malfoof is a common dish in Middle Eastern cuisine. Because the cabbage has many strong flavors of its own, I kept the spices of the filling very simple. I salted the rice and ground beef and only added mint, cumin, and allspice. Most of the other beautiful tastes come from the chicken bullion cubes and garlic!

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Prep Time: 25 minutes Serves: 2-3 People

Cook Time: 2 hours, ,and 20 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, and 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Cabbage

• 1 cup Golden Rice or Botan Rice, soaked and rinsed

• 1/2 lb. Ground Beef

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil

• 1 Tbsp. Fresh Mint, minced

• 2 tsp. Salt

• 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

• 1 tsp. Cumin

• 1 tsp. Allspice

• 12 Cloves of Garlic

• 2 Chicken Bullion Cubes

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill a large pot with water 3/4 of the way full. Bring it to a boil on the stove top.

2. Place the whole cabbage in the boiling water and allow it to soften for a few minutes. Begin removing the leaves one by one from the cabbage using a a knife to hold down the stem and a fork to lightly pick off the leaves.

3. Place the boiled leaves on a tray and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, mix the rice, olive oil, mint, salt, pepper, cumin, and allspice together. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Keep in mind the chicken cubes have salt so you don't want to add too much to the mix. Add in the ground beef once the spices are perfect.

5. With each cabbage leaf, remove the large vein stem that runs down the middle and discard it. This should leave you with 2 leaves once the stem is removed. Repeat with the rest of the cabbage leaves.

6. Starting at the base of the leaf, add about 2 tsp. of the rice filling and tightly roll the leaf like a cigar.

7. On the bottom of a medium pot, add extra cabbage leaves that were not rolled. This helps prevent the stuffed cabbage from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle 4 cloves of garlic and crush about half of the chicken cube onto the bottom.

8. Once all the leaves are stuffed, add one layer of the leaves into the pot. In between each layer, add a few cloves of garlic and some crushed chicken bullion.

9. Repeat this until you are out of malfoof.

10. Fill the pot with water until it just barely covers the top layer of malfoof. Place a small, flat glass plate on top of the malfoof to keep them snug and prevent them from opening up. Cover the pot with a lid and cook on medium for 2 hours, until there is no more liquid and the rice and meat are fully cooked.

11. Flip the pot onto a flat tray and sprinkle with lemon. Enjoy!