Syrian Stuffed Cabbage
- 1 cup raw chopped meat
- 2 tablespoons fat
- 1⁄3 cup raw rice
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 head cabbage
- 1⁄2 lemon
Strip off the leaves from a head of cabbage, throw them into boiling water, and let them stand till they are wilted. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the lemon, using for the meat either mutton or beef. Lay a cabbage leaf on a plate, remove the thickest part of the midrib, so that it will roll. Spread on it a rounded teaspoonful of the mixture and roll it like a cigarette. Do the same with the other leaves, packing each one, as it is finished, into a pan which will fit over a cooker-pail, unless a pail is used which will be nearly filled by the cabbage. The rolls must be carefully packed or they will float and unroll when the water is added. Cover them with boiling water, bring all to a boil, and boil it for five minutes, then put it directly into a cooker, if the pail is full, or over boiling water if not, and leave it for from four to six hours. Take the rolls out carefully with a cake turner or skimmer, lay them in a platter, and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over them. They are usually served as the meat dish for luncheon.
Serves six or eight persons.