Exquisite cabbage rolls made with fresh cabbage

Start with the cabbage: remove the core and remove the damaged outer leaves. In a saucepan, bring water to a boil and carefully lower the head of cabbage inside, making sure the water completely covers it. Cook for 10–15 minutes, making sure the leaves remain intact. Then carefully remove the head of cabbage from the water and let it cool.

While the cabbage is cooking, prepare the remaining ingredients. Finely chop the onion (one onion for the minced meat and one for the sauce), as well as fragrant herbs and garlic. Cut the carrots into small sticks or chop them into cubes. For faster cooking, you can use a grater.

Prepare the tomatoes: make cross-shaped cuts on the skin, immerse them for 30 seconds in boiling water left over from cooking the cabbage. Then quickly transfer to cold water and carefully remove the skin. Cut the tomatoes, remove the core with seeds and cut into cubes.

Prepare the ground meat: cut the beef and pork into small cubes, and then put them through a meat grinder. Some housewives also grind onions in a meat grinder, but for cabbage rolls it is better to chop them finely, so the filling turns out more tender and airy.

Boil the rice: if you are using parboiled rice, cook it in boiling water for about 10 minutes, then cool. If the rice is not parboiled, rinse it well first and cook in a large amount of boiling salted water (1:8) for about 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.

Combine all the ingredients: in a large bowl, mix the cooked rice, ground meat, chopped onion, and fragrant herbs. Mix thoroughly, add salt (it is better to use iodized coarse salt) and pepper to taste. Add a little cold drinking water to make the filling juicy and pliable. Stir, but do not beat the meat, so that the rice does not "break".

Separate the cabbage into leaves: carefully separate the leaves from the head. The inner, tough, and small leaves can be used for making cabbage soup. For the remaining leaves, cut off or beat off the thickenings with the blunt side of a knife. If the leaves are too large, cut them lengthwise along the thickening.

Form the cabbage rolls: on the inside of the cabbage leaf, at the base, place a portion of the meat filling. Wrap the leaf once, then tuck in the edges and wrap again. Since cabbage leaves vary in size, after forming the cabbage roll, trim off any excess leaf.

Fry the cabbage rolls: heat olive oil in a skillet. Fry the cabbage rolls on both sides until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. To prevent the oil from splattering and the cabbage rolls from heating evenly, cover the skillet and cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer the fried cabbage rolls to a baking dish.