Recipe for stuffed cabbage with lamb chops

Serves 4
PREP TIME: 30 minutes
COOK TIME: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1600g Lamb chops
• 800g minced lean ground beef
• 2400g White cabbage
• 80g Cinnamon powder
• 80g Chopped mint leaves
• 40g Dry mint leaves
• 160g Chopped onions
• 160g Ghee
• 320g Egyptian rice
• 80g White pepper
• 80g Minced garlic
• 8g Cumin
• 40g Maggie
• 1/2tbsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Olive oil
• 4 Whole lemon
• 4 cups Water

Method

• Heat grill pan over high heat until almost smoking, add the lamb chops and sear for about 2 minutes. Flip the chops over and cook for another 3 minutes. Set aside

• Peel and discard the outer leaves of the cabbage

• To separate the leaves, simmer the entire cabbage head in a large pot of boiling water for 5-10 minutes, carefully turning it over to ensure exposure to all of its side

• As the leaves loosen, pin down the cabbage inside the pot with one fork, and with another fork slowly peel away the leaves one after the other. Do this slowly and carefully so you don't hurt yourself with boiling water, and to also ensure that leaves are whole and not torn.
• Place the cabbage leaves in a colander as you peel them. Please note that if you try to peel leaves of a raw cabbage they'll very likely break and tear

• Once you've separated all leaves, try to roll one or two of them to see if they are soft enough. If not, and if they tear or break, put them back in the boiling water pot and cook them for another 5 minutes

• Mix the minced meat with cinnamon powder, cumin, ghee, garlic, onion and Egyptian rice. Season with salt to taste. Mix them well and set aside

• Lay each cabbage leaf separately on a cutting board, cut out the stem if it's too thick. Spread 1 to 2 table spoons of meat stuffing along the edge of the leaf. Roll it slowly and tightly over the meat all the way

• Place the grilled lamb chops in a wide/deep cooking pot and line up the stuffed rolls carefully on top of the grilled chops one by the other in a compact manner until you've completed a layer which you will garnish with a few chopped cloves of garlic, sliced potatoes and mint leaves

• Squeeze 4 lemons, mix them with 4 cups of water, ½ to 1 teaspoon of salt (to taste), chopped garlic, maggie and dry mint then add them to the cooking pot. The sauce should cover the rolls and if not, add more water until it does

• Carefully shake/tilt the cooking pot sideways a few times to ensure the sauce seeps through everywhere. Place a heavy plate inside the pot, on top of the rolls, cover the pot, and turn on the stove on high heat for about 5-10 minutes until they boil, at which time you turn heat to very low and let them simmer slowly for 1 to 1.5 hours (until the cabbage is fully cooked and is no longer crunchy - time may vary, however you should be left with a bit of sauce on the bottom don't let it dry up)

• Serve hot.