Golabki Soup (Polish Cabbage Roll Soup)
Golabki soup is the Polish cabbage roll taken apart and cooked in one pot. Ground pork, cabbage, rice and tomato give the same taste as the rolls, with no leaves to blanch and nothing to wrap. One hour instead of three.
Ingredients
- 500 gground pork
- 700 gwhite cabbage
- 100 gwhite rice
- 400 mltomato passata
- 1 pcsonion
- 1 pcscarrot
- 2 clovesgarlic
- 1500 mlmeat broth
- 2 pcsbay leaf
- 4 pcsallspice berries
- 1 tbspvegetable oil
- 1.5 tspsalt
- 0.5 tspblack pepper
- 6 tbspsour cream
Method
- Heat the oil in a heavy pot and brown the ground pork, breaking it up as it cooks. Give it time to colour rather than steam; that browning is most of the flavour of the broth.
- Add the diced onion and the grated carrot, cook for five minutes until soft, then add the garlic for the last thirty seconds.
- Stir in the tomato passata and cook it for two or three minutes until the colour deepens and the raw tomato edge is gone.
- Pour in the broth, drop in the bay leaves, allspice berries and black pepper (0.5 tsp), and bring the pot to a gentle simmer.
- Add the shredded cabbage, including the core chopped fine, and simmer for 15 minutes until it softens but keeps some bite.
- Rinse the rice and add it. Cook for another 15 to 18 minutes until tender, adding broth if the soup thickens more than you want.
- Take the pot off the heat and let it stand for 10 minutes. Fish out the bay and allspice, adjust the salt, and serve with a spoonful of sour cream in each bowl.
FAQ
Gołąbki are cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling of meat and rice, then braised. The soup uses the same components, shredded and simmered together, so you get the flavour without blanching leaves and rolling parcels.
Ground pork is standard in Poland and carries the most flavour. Half pork and half beef is the common upgrade; ground turkey works but the broth comes out thinner, so add a little more fat when browning.
The rice keeps absorbing broth in the fridge. If you plan on leftovers, cook the rice separately and add it to each bowl, or simply loosen the reheated soup with more broth.
The soup itself contains no gluten, but check the broth — stock cubes often carry wheat. For a low-carb version leave the rice out and add more cabbage, or use cauliflower rice at the very end.
It freezes well for up to three months, best without the rice. In a slow cooker, brown the meat first, then cook everything on low for six hours and add the rice for the last hour.
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