One of the things my mother-in-law cooked well was Golumpkis or known to most, cabbage rolls. It was her go-to for most family celebrations and is still favored by her children today. They are not hard to make but can be time-consuming for a weeknight dinner, so I took the ingredients we love when we have Golumpkis and transformed them into a stew. With a bit of chopping and a little stirring, you can have the same flavors in a bowl on your dinner table in about an hour.

Golumpki (Cabbage Roll) Stew

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, I used olive oil
• 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef, I used 95% lean
• Salt and pepper
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• ½ pound small potatoes, cubed
• 5 cups rough-cut cabbage
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 4 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoon dried paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup brown rice

Instructions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a Dutch oven. Add ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring and breaking up meat until it is no longer pink. Remove from pot.
2. Add remaining teaspoon of oil to Dutch oven. Add onions, carrots, and celery. Cook until onions soften. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
3. Add potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, broth, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, oregano, thyme, and reserved cooked ground beef to pot.
4. Bring the pot to a light boil and stir in brown rice. Cover the pot with a lid and reduce heat. Simmer until rice is cooked through and veggies are soft, about 40 minutes.
5. If the stew seems too thick, feel free to use a bit of water of beef broth to bring it to a consistency of your liking. Serve, eat, enjoy!

“A home cook who relies too much on a recipe is sort of like a pilot who reads the plane’s instruction manual while flying.”

Alton Brown