I used to eat cabbage rolls every Christmas Eve. It was my great-grandmother’s recipe from her home in the Ukraine, one that she’d make sure that she taught her daughters when they could first walk. She would make cabbage rolls every Christmas, and eventually, when she got too old to stand in the kitchen all day, my grandma took over. My grandma would spend HOURS boiling and stuffing and rolling the cabbage. The last time we ate full, traditional cabbage rolls was Christmas Eve of 2019. That’s when we got the call that my great-grandmother had sadly passed away. I never knew her very well, but the one remnant I have of her (this recipe) will live forever in my heart. 

But let’s rewind a little. Allow me to tell you about the last time I ate a real cabbage roll. This was the last Christmas before the pandemic hit, in 2019. By then, I had heard rumours that something was going on, but never thought much of it. As always, the house was very, very busy. There were always people coming and going, bringing food and good wishes. Each Christmas was always different and more tumultuous than the last. But two things were always true: we always woke my parents up at 6 o’clock on Christmas, and we always ate cabbage rolls on Christmas Eve.

As a child, I was not the biggest fan of cabbage rolls. Soggy, wet leaves full of tomatoes and rice wasn’t exactly the most appealing thing to nine year old me. Each year, I would pray that my Grandma would give up and decide to make spaghetti. And each year, I got a couple of cabbage rolls on my plate. 

As I grow older and more introspective, I can better appreciate the deliciousness of cabbage rolls. When I finally made the recipe on my own, I was utterly humbled by the amount of work and patience required. I still cannot understand how women in Stalin-occupied Ukraine did this for their families once a week. I am forever and eternally grateful for the labour of love I was able to indulge in every Christmas Eve. I hope that you too can appreciate it.

[INGREDIENTS]
-One large cabbage
-1 ½ cups of rice(Brown preferably, but any kind works.
-½ of a pound of ground beef
-1 red onion
-Salt and Pepper
-1 jar of tomato passata
-1 can of diced tomatoes
-5-6 bay leaves
[TOOLS]
-Large baking dish. 
-Frying pan
-Large pot
-Knife & cutting board

1. First, you’ll need to take your cabbage and cut off all the broken leaves. Sometimes, the exterior leaves will be dirty, so remove them as well. Then core your cabbage. You can do this by cutting a pentagon into the bottom and carving a pyramid. See the image for details. 
2. Put your cabbage in the big pot, bottom down,  and add enough water to cover the bottom by an inch. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to low heat. Leave your cabbage to steam until it’s soft and you can peel the leaves off one by one. This process should take 30-40 mins. Add water if you need. 
3. While your cabbage is steaming, put your rice into a pot and bring to a boil, then simmer. (If you’re using brown rice, you should soak the rice for ten minutes beforehand. Trust me) Take the rice off the burner before it’s fully cooked, as the rice will do the rest of its cooking in the oven. 
   
4. Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Chop up your onion into small pieces, then add to your frying pan with 1tbsp of olive oil on medium-high heat. Cook, for a couple of minutes, then add your beef, salt, and pepper. (Go easy on the pepper: you can always add more) Cook until the beef is nice and brown, and smells good.

• Mix together your rice and your meat.
• Once the cabbage is done, remove from heat. If you take a fork and stab the top of the cabbage, it should slide through relatively easily. Let it cool until you can handle it, then peel off each leaf. 
• Now you need to roll the cabbage. Do this by taking a leaf and holding it in your palm. Then, spoon the rice/meat mix into your leaf. There shouldn’t be so much that you can’t roll it. Think like making a little mound ⅓ the size of the leaf. Then you’ll want to fold each edge inward to hold the meat, then roll it into a burrito-like shape. Place this into your baking pan.
• Repeat step 7 until you’ve used up all your cabbage. If the pan is full and you’ve still got cabbage left, you can just add those leaves on top.
• Take your bay leaves and scatter them around the rolls. 
• Take your jar of passata and pour it generously everywhere. All the rolls should be covered. Then take the canned tomatoes and do the same thing again. These rolls should be absolutely slathered.
  
• Put your rolls into the oven and bake until done, approximately 1 ½ hours.
• Enjoy!
  

To this day, this recipe serves as a constant reminder of the lengths my family will go for each other.