Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
Use a long thin knife to remove the core from 1 large head cabbage.
Place the cabbage in a covered microwave-safe dish with ½ cup of water. Cook on high power for 5 minutes.
Turn the cabbage over and cook for another 10 minutes. Drain the water out of the cabbage bowl completely and allow it to cool enough to handle.
Then, peel the leaves off one at a time and allow them to dry and fully cool on a kitchen towel.
While the cabbage is cooling, stir together the ingredients to fill the rolls. Combine ¾ cup cooked white rice, ½ pound ground beef, ½ pound ground pork, 1 small onion, small diced, 1 Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder and ½ teaspoon pepper. Set this aside.
In a separate bowl, mix 10 ounce can tomato soup, 15 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes and ½ teaspoon sugar. Set this aside.
Pat the cabbage leaves dry with paper towels. Remove the hard ridges in the center of the cabbage leaves with a knife, creating two separate pieces. These would be very difficult to roll up if you didn't do this (it's also easier to eat without that ridge).
Taking one cabbage leaf at a time, place about 1 ½ to 2 Tablespoons of filling into each leaf.
Roll up the leaf and tuck the ends under. Continue with the rest of the rolls.
Pour half of your sauce in the base of the dish.
Place rolls seam-side down into the baking dish. Place the cabbage rolls in two long rows, close to each other. (If your dish is smaller and you must layer the cabbage rolls, cover each layer with some tomato sauce.)
Then pour the rest of the tomato sauce over all of the rolls.
Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 90 minutes.
Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
Please refer to my FAQ’s and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
All beef can be used in this recipe instead of a beef and pork mixture.
Make sure you are using cooked rice.
You can use diced or crushed tomatoes.
The sugar added to the tomato sauce cuts down the acidity.