Lahanodolmades (λαχανοντολμάδες in Greek) is the name of the traditional Greek stuffed cabbage rolls. A cabbage roll, in general, is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of fillings. The Greek filling version consists of ground beef and rice. For the record, this is a dish that you will find on every festive table, especially a Christmas one. However, this is so delicious, that you can make it any time!
Greek lahanodolmades avgolemono recipe requires the following ingredients: cabbage, ground meat, rice, onion, olive oil, flour, eggs, lemon, salt, and pepper.
Two tips to make this dish even more delicious: first, you can replace half of the beef ground meat with pork ground meat. Second, you can lay some cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pot so lahanodolmades do not stick.
Just like any other stuffed cabbage rolls, you can make lahanodolmades and freeze them for later use. As a result, they make great leftovers or freezer meals. You can make these Greek stuffed cabbage rolls ahead of time. To make ahead, I suggest you cool the lahanodolmades and refrigerate them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Otherwise, freeze in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
To freeze them, I suggest you place them in a single-serving size package depending on the number of cabbage rolls you want to freeze as a serving. Once you place them and remove the excess air, seal the bag and date it.
Lahanodolmades – Ingredients
- 1 large cabbage
- 1/2 kg of ground meat
- 1/2 cup of rice
- onion (finely chopped)
- salt, pepper
- 1 cup of olive oil
- 2.5 tbsp of flour
- eggs
- lemons
Lahanodolmades – How to Make
- Start this traditional Greek cabbage rolls recipe by boiling water in a large pot with a little salt.
- In the meanwhile, clean the cabbage and remove the hard stem.
- Wash it and boil it in the water for 10min.
- Mix the ground meat, rice, salt, and pepper and knead well.
- Wrap the lahanodolmades by putting a tablespoon of the meat/rice mix in each leaf of the cabbage. Fold the two ends of the leaf and roll them up into a cylindrical shape.
- Put the lahanodolmades in an empty pot, after you lay some cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pot, and put on top of them a plate heavy enough to press them down so that they do not open up as they boil.
- Add enough water to cover them, and boil them for 40-50 min.
- When they are ready, take them out, put them on a platter, and work on the sauce.
- To make the sauce, heat the butter in a pot, melt it, add the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the juice of the cabbage rolls while stirring at the same time.
- Beat the eggs with lemon juice.
- Remove the sauce from the heat, and pour the egg/lemon mix little by little.
- Pour the white sour sauce over the lahanodolmades and serve them.