Lahanodolmades is a Greek dish of stuffed cabbage leaves filled with meat and rice and served with an avgolemono sauce. The meat and rice stuffing is flavoured with oregano and mint. The avgolemono sauce adds a lemony kick and takes away any thought that cabbage is a fundamental part of this recipe.
This may not be the most attractive dish but what it lacks in appearance it makes up in flavour and has to be the ultimate in comfort food. My mother only made this for my brothers and me, never for anyone else. I don’t think she ever thought it was showy enough. Perhaps that is why she always accompanied it with chips! I have eaten it many times when I have cooked it myself without the chips but for me the chips are the icing on the cake. My ritual is to eat the Lahanodolmades and then use the chips to mop up the avgolemono sauce. Heaven. Well, for me that is.
Many Greek recipes call for Arborio rice, in this recipe it has been replaced by long grain as per my mother’s recipe. No doubt she used this when she moved to England because she would have found it difficult if not impossible to find Arborio and like a lot of her Greek recipes she had to improvise. Even though as the years passed and Arborio has become available my mother stuck with her long grain improvisation.
It took me a long time to make Lahanodolmades for myself, I just didn’t have a need. When I was at home I would watch my mother on numerous occasions make this whilst sat on the kitchen chair chatting about nothing, never thinking to note anything down. When I left home I was busy trying all the things I didn’t get to eat at home to worry about any recipes. It wasn’t until quite a few years later that I began to hanker after my childhood food. I think my mother knew that she had a slight power over us. If we visited her she would make our favourite foods. It was a way of luring us in.
When we did visit it turned into a game, what dish my mother served up indicated who was the favourite. If we planned a visit to my mother’s she would always ask what we would like her to cook for us. My reply was either Lahanodolmades or Paella. When I sat down to eat it usually wasn’t either. There would always be a long list of rotating excuses why not, usually because they were a lot of work. This all stopped when I realised what went on when my elder brother visited, he too requested my mother’s Lahanodolmades and that’s exactly what he got. I can remember turning up unexpectedly one evening to find him happily eating a huge plate of them with the accompanying chips. When I exclaimed my outrage my brother sat and laughed and said in a very smug way that if I wanted to eat them in future I should check when he was visiting!
This recipe sounds complicated but it isn’t and neither does it have a long list of ingredients. The ratio of rice to mince is up to you. As with a lot of recipes the meat can be padded out with more rice. I use oregano and mint but these can be replaced with parsley and dill, it’s just a matter of what you have in the cupboard or garden at the time. Another joy of this recipe is that it can be made the day before and reheated gently so as not to break the Lahanodolmades. The avgolemono sauce does though need to be made fresh just before serving and cannot be reheated.
Lahanodolmades
Ingredients
1 whole white cabbage
1 lb/500g lamb mince (beef, pork, veal or a combination is fine)
1 small onion grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small egg lightly beaten
2 oz/60g long gain rice (washed)
2 tbs oregano dried
1 tbs mint dried
Salt and pepper
Vegetable stock
Avgolemono sauce
3 egg yolks
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tbs cornflour
Stock from the cooked Lahanodolmades
Method
Take the whole white cabbage turn it over and cut out the heart.
Place a large fork or as you can see I have used a serving fork into the middle of the cabbage.
Put a large pan of salted water onto boil. The pan needs to be big enough to incorporate the whole cabbage.
Place the cabbage into the water when boiling and leave it in for a few minutes. Remove. Gently pull away the outer leaves as they loosen. Place the whole cabbage back into the pan and repeat until all the leaves are removed.
Set aside the leaves until they are cool enough to handle.
Any of the small leaves or pieces of cabbage not used can be placed in the bottom of the pan. This will act as a vegetable trivet and will stop the Lahanodolmades from burning or catching whilst cooking.
In a pan put the tablespoon of oil and heat gently. Add the onions and cook until transparent. Remove and cool.
Put into a bowl the mince, washed rice, onion, herbs, egg, salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands.
Take one cabbage leaf and with a sharp knife cut any large tough veins out. Place a walnut sized piece of mince and rice mixture into the middle. Bring up the sides and roll.
Place the rolled cabbage parcel on top of the cabbage lined pan and start to fill the pan up creating layers of parcels. The aim is to pack them in tightly.
When all the leaves have been wrapped and packed into the pan place an upturned saucer on top to anchor them down.
Dissolve a stock cube in some boiling water in a jug and gently pour this into the pan until it just covers the Lahanodolmades. Put a lid on the pan and gently bring to the boil after which turn down to a slow simmer. Leave them to simmer for about 60 to 80 minutes.
To make the Avgolemono sauce
Beat the egg yolks to a creamy constituency in a pan.
Add the lemon juice slowly whilst continuing to beat
Add the cornflour and stir well until smooth
Now gently add a cup of stock from the pan of cooked Lahanodolmades which has been allowed to cool until tepid and stir well.
If you add the stock too hot it will curdle the eggs.
Place the pan on a low heat and stir until the sauce thickens. Do not over cook. Depending on how thick you like your sauce you can either add more or less stock.
As I usually make enough for two meals I do not add the sauce to the pan of Lahanodolmades. I serve them onto a plate and pour the Avgolomeno sauce over them.
Serve as they are with the sauce and if you wish a large helping of chips!
Maria Dernikos 
First of all, this is beautiful. Great photos. This is one of those dishes that brings you back and every culture seems to have a version of this. Thanks so much for sharing. I like your writing too. It’s very passionate.
Thank you Amanda.
Maria, in Iran we make dolmeh with cabbage leaves too and while I usually consider Persian cuisine to be the tops, I have to say that I find your mother’s version with the sauce and the chips absolutely superior and so so so irresistible. I wish I had some! Meanwhile, I can’t believe your mom played favorites likes that, ha ha! What a yummy recipe. A total keeper and MUST TRY for me.
Thank you Azita, I feel that Greek cuisine has very strong ties with Persian cuisine. Perhaps that’s why I love Persian food. I haven’t seen anyone else serve it with chips and I wonder if I should have included it but to make the recipe my mother’s I had to!
As to favourites, it was a sort of game between us.
Last week on Downton Abbey, Edith told her father, why do parents say they love their children equally and don’t have favorites, when it is not true. I only have one child/son, and cannot validate. However, I knew my parents did, although they said what every parent says. Especially, the eldest or the youngest have their advantages. 😀 )))
I love dolmades of every cuisine. I did post Persian style stuffed cabbage two months ago, in Dec, if you’d like to check it out.
What especially caught my attention in this post is the avgolemono sauce. I always thought of it as a soup. So now, I learned a new Greek sauce.
Fae, your recipe is so interesting, freezing the cabbage – I would never ever have thought of that. I am putting your link here for others to go and read.
http://fae-magazine.com/2013/12/18/stuffed-cabbage-%E2%80%A2-dolmeh-kalam-%E2%80%A2-%D8%AF%D9%84%D9%85%D9%87-%DA%A9%D9%84%D9%85/
I hope it works. Avgolemono has so many uses. I love it as a sauce, a very good quick standby.
I loved this story and recipe Maria. And the thing about the favouritism towards your brother – oh dear, I relate a little too well to that! I know I’d love this dish. Wonder if your mother would make it for me?!
I added the bit about my brother and being my mother’s favourite as it amused me then and now. He would have asked first for Steak and then Lahanodolmades – no doubt been disappointed that he didn’t get the steak settled for the Lahanodolmades, feeling second best until that is I turned up then he realised things were not so bad for his position in the favourite chart!!!
This is a great recipe, Maria! I love the idea of the meat and rice wrapped into cabbage leaves and the sauce must taste divine. I can also see your mother’s point. It is time consuming. To be honest, I do not know if we have something similar in the Italian cuisine. I have to look into it!
So… is it truly hurtful? I have always been the favorite in my family and I thought my brothers have accepted it … peacefully, without any bad feelings. They have been saying to my parents “We know she is your favorite child” since they started talking. But today, after reading your post, I can’t help but wondering … maybe … deep inside … they didn’t accept it so peaceful.
I have been quite surprised to read the comments. I didn’t realise I had hit a nerve. I was outraged that he got the Lahanodolmades and I didn’t. What I cherish the most is remembering his face when he realised he was being served something I really wanted, and the smugness on his face, with no malice intended. He reached out for my hand as he laughed. He is not longer alive and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Looking back it amused both of us and I remember it with deep affection. I think if you love your brothers then they will accept it totally.
I’m so sorry to hear about your brother. It sounds like you two had a wonderful relationship. Something to nourish and treasure at the same time. A relationship that every sibling should have.
We had our ups and downs but on the whole he was so kind to me growing up and would give me boyfriend advice which had to be taken with a pinch of salt! As long as I remembered he was my older brother we got on just fine!!
Sibling rivalry! Something I’ve always kept well away from. Your narrative is wonderful. And I did have to chuckle at your outrage – perhaps not the best way of putting that?!. As for stuffed cabbage leaves, I’m afraid I still haven’t mastered the art. Although, with spring lamb not so far off I might just have to put in some practice!
I think my mother created the sibling rivalry and we all obliged!! I was outraged at the time! This is quite a good cheap recipe that can feed many for very little and can be made the day before. Stuffing the leaves is not as difficult as you think as long as they are packed in well! Cabbage is far more robust than you think. Perhaps that’s why it has a reputation for being boiled for hours!!
Gosh, Maria! I’ve not had stuffed cabbage in ages. Yours sound delicious al by themselves but, served with your avoglemo sauce, must be fantastic! I, too, enjoy using a piece of bread or something similar to mop up any sauce remaining on my plate. If that sauce is an avoglemo, I really am in heaven. What a great idea to serve it with stuffed cabbage. Your Mother must’ve been a wonderful cook. 🙂
John so glad to hear that you too know the art of what to do with a piece of bread!! My favourite is to dip it into the dressing remaining in the bottom of the salad bowl. Thank you for your kind comments as always.
Oh, I disagree Maria. That lead-in photo of your cabbage rolls is gorgeous, making this dish look beautiful and delicious. That photo caught my eye and enticed me to read on. I am definitely going to try this. Hubby LOVES cabbage rolls but I only make them once a year because I too think they are too much work. I haven’t made them yet this year and your cabbage rolls will be the ones I make!
I’m so glad I didn’t miss this post Maria! ( I’m a little late on my visit). I absolutely love stuffed cabbage! I was fortunate enough to enjoy this in my travels to Greece, however, upon my return I trued to duplicate it and, whew! Did not turn out. I’m inspired to try again, using your recipe. I’m going to make this for my family this weekend. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Fingers cross the recipe works for you!!! Writing down a recipe you have made a hundred times is so difficult. I am really interested in how it turns out for you. Those cabbage leaves are more robust than you think and will roll even if they have had the quickest of boils. Remember to put the spare leaves on the bottom of the pan, this really helps and they don’t go to waste because I love to eat them! Thank you for visiting.
Great tips! Thank you. I’ll definitely report back.
Looks great and this is one of my favorite recipes!!! Exharisto Poly!
Παρακαλώ; I think everyone has their own version of this recipe. This is my mother’s and my favourite!!
Yes, I agree. I love this recipe, and thank you for sharing. 🙂
My grandmother used to make me stuffed cabbage every year for my birthday as she knew how much I loved it. I can’t wait to try yours with the avgolemono sauce. 🙂