Homemade dolma in cabbage

Recipe Recommendations "Homemade dolma in cabbage"
If you think that these are just stuffed cabbage, you are wrong. This is Armenian dolma (tolma), which is often cooked in grape leaves or vegetables (bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplants). In this dolma recipe, we used only white cabbage leaves.
It is better to use minced meat for dolma homemade, rolled in a home meat grinder, mixed - beef (90%) and lard (10%).
Cabbage for homemade dolma should be soft, not the one that is chosen for borscht, although we also got dense, strong cabbage.
How to cook dolma with minced meat in cabbage
Step 1
Fill a large saucepan with water and cook the whole cabbage until half cooked, until soft, with the lid closed. Be guided by the time yourself, as it may vary depending on the type of cabbage.
We cooked 1.5 kg of cabbage for almost 30 minutes under a closed lid.
Step 2
While the cabbage is cooking, cook the minced meat. Add a glass of rice. Chop the fresh herbs as fine as possible and add to the minced meat. Add red and black ground pepper to taste.
Add your favorite dried herbs and condiments to taste.
Step 3
Heat a skillet with 80 ml of vegetable oil and fry the chopped onions until light golden brown. Then add 2 tbsp. tablespoons of tomato paste and stir. Let it boil for another 2-3 minutes.
Step 4
Also add the prepared tomato sauce with onions to the minced meat and mix well with your hands.
Minced dolma is ready.
Step 6
Use a knife to remove the hard veins of the cabbage and give the cabbage leaves the same shape as possible so that you can easily wrap the minced meat in dolma.
Step 9
Roll up the dolma. If possible, close the dolma on both sides, and if the leaves are small, then only on one side, as in our case.
Step 11
When the minced meat is finished, place a large plate on the dolma in a saucepan so that the dolma does not fall apart during cooking.
Fill with cold water to the top of the plate and place on the stove.
Step 13
As soon as the dolma starts to boil, reduce the heat and cook until the water evaporates, as in the photo.