ADDICTIVE Herby Egyptian Cabbage Rolls

We're making amazingly addictive Egyptian Cabbage Rolls, which are filled with a vegetarian herb and tomato rice filling. These Cabbage Rolls are the perfect comfort food for winter, as they have a great fresh flavour.
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0:00 Episode Premise
0:50 Making the rice filling
2:47 Preparing your cabbage
4:21 Making the rolls
5:07 Assembling your pot
5:37 Cooking the rolls
6:35 Taste Test & Review
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2.5kg Flat cabbage (or any other non curly variety)
1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tsp Coriander Seeds

Filling:
2 Cups Medium Grain Rice
3 Medium Onions
400g Canned Tomatoes
200g Tomato Paste
160g Parsley (100g after chopping and trimming)
100g Dill (60g after chopping and trimming)
1/4 Cup Clarified Butter (or oil if making this vegan)
2 Tbsp Salt
2 Tsp Black pepper
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Directions:

Preparing the cabbage:
1- Remove any outer leaves which aren't suitable for eating
2- Turn your cabbage over and cut out the core
3- Remove each leaf by pushing from its stalk, then prying gently off the cabbage
4- Fill a pot with boiling water and add trimmed parsley and dill stalks with the Cumin and Coriander seeds. Let boil for 3 minutes
5- Add 2-3 Cabbage leaves to the water, and boil for 2-3 minutes, until the leaf is soft and easily wraps around the stalk
6- Stack the leaves on a tray and allow to cool
7- Once cooled, slice off the stalks, then slice into squares about 8cm X 8cm

Making the filling:
1- Thoroughly wash and drain the rice
2- Dice your onions to a small dice, and mix with the salt and pepper in a large bowl
3- Add the rice and mix to ensure everything is evenly coated
4- Add the Tomato Paste and mix, then the herbs and mix, then blend and add the tomatoes
5- Heat your clarified butter over high heat until almost smoking, then pour into the mixture
6- Mix once more and it's ready

To make the rolls:
1- Place a square of cabbage on your board with the stalks facing upwards
2- Put a teaspoon of rice on the cabbage, and spread out into a cylinder shape
3- Roll the cabbage leaf to surround the rice
4- If there is a lot of excess on the sides, feel free to trim it

To assemble and cook:
1- Place any scrap cabbage at the bottom of the pot to form a protective layer
2- Lay your cabbage rolls into the pot in a spiral, starting from the outside and working your way to the center
3- Repeat and keep adding layers until you have used all the rolls (partial layers can cause the pot to collapse)
4- Place the pot on the stove over medium heat and cover with a lid. After 10 minutes it should have plenty of water in it
5- Pour in some vegetable stock or water to just barely cover the rolls, and turn the heat to high
6- Bring to a boil then turn the heat to low and keep covered while allowing to steam for about 30 minutes
7- Check your rolls for doneness, then allow any excess liquid to evaporate
8- Place a plate on top of the pot, then flip the two over
Remove and serve immediately

[MiddleEats]

Love the cabbage rolls and want to see more rice stuffed vegetables? Check out the vine leaves and dolma videos I've posted before.

Of course if you enjoy the content you can help us make more by becoming a patron www.patreon.com/MiddleEats

[asem]

The most important tip for those who will cook this dish for the first time: this dish takes a lot of time, maybe three hours or more. Be careful not to fall into the trap of time

[yaya]

a two in one tip that may be beneficial, is taking the dill and parsley's stems that we cut off earlier and putting them as the sacrificial layer at the bottom of the pot, preventing the ma7shy from getting burned and at the same time getting all the flavour of it while everything is cooking

[Mougino]

Every Friday morning I used to wake up on my mother and grandmother boiling cabbage in the kitchen (winter season). I would laugh and tell them that is a faulty project!
My reasoning was it takes a lot of time and work and it is just eaten in seconds.
Now I miss both and their faulty projects, may they dwell in paradise.

[gayatrim]

I visited Egypt in 2018 and the food was one of the biggest highlights of my trip. I specifically remember eating this rice roll, and I thought they were divine. Coming from India, I find certain cuisines a bit bland, but Egyptian food was so flavourful and aromatic. I loved it. I'm going to try to make this here.

[sullyprudhomme]

Here's a small suggestion. Instead of carefully peeling the leaves off of the raw cabbage, remove the core (as you did) and put it into a large pasta pot of boiling water. Remove every 5 minutes or so and peel (much more easily) each leaf. Once you get to the uncooked part, put it back in boiling water and repeat. Great recipe BTW.

[sinaain]

As a vegetarian I appreciate that the recipe is traditionally already done without meat and my boyfriend loves cabbage, so I am definitely going to try it! I also appreciate the info about freezing.

[samy]

Pro tip: The cabbage mahhshi rolls are delicious the next day fried in ghee, one layer of rolls at a time, in a frying pan. Growing up in Egypt, my dad would always make sure that we left some of the mahhshi for the next day to fry up. Delicious!

[lipstickzombie]

I remember my Egyptian coworkers' wives basically having an unspoken contest on who has the best mahshi during Ramadhan. Not a big fan of the grape leaf version but I can down several pieces of cabbage mahshi without even noticing. >.<

[juliecobbina]

My mum was half Ghanaian and half Lebanese. She would make the rolls stuffed with rice and mince and then cook in a big pan of spicy tomato stew with beef ribs . It was a feast !!!

[PJ-shnh]

I learned in my 20's that almost every culture on earth has it's own version of "cabbage rolls" and they're all so incredibly different and similar all at the same time.

[ndautomotive]

Absolutely lovely! In Bulgaria, Eastern Europe we have something similar called sarma/sarmi, and it's usually made around the winter holidays.

[donnamarsh]

Just got back from Egypt 🇪🇬 a week ago. Craving the food! Will definitely make this!

[FlavorLab]

I am so happy to see your channel growing!

[sixrats]

Just made these tonight -- with a few minor adjustments, such as adding finely chopped roasted red peppers and cilantro. But OMG! This was just too, too good. My family polished off the lot and demanded more. Between this and the shawarma episode, at this rate, they will never let me leave the kitchen! Thank you so much for posting these incredible recipes! If you're reading this and are still on the fence about making it, trust me. It's worth the work. Rice can be finicky, but this was foolproof.

[gardeniagorgeous]

I agree Obi. Egyptian mahshi is in a class of its own. I’ve tried all kinds… Turkish, Levantine, Iraqi, Libyan, Eastern European, former Ottoman countries, even American. All delicious. there is something so mouth watering about Egyptian filling with its herbs, onions and tomato base. I don’t miss the meat at all. Though I wouldn’t say no to Egyptian shallow fried chicken on the side. 😊 I recommend a digestive tea like ginger or cinnamon after eating a heap of these succulent babies.

[al]

I love Egyptian Arab food.
Mahshi, Koshary, Sausages, kofta, liver & I even want to try their fermented fish. Love the culture, dialect & music too.

[SamTahbou]

I have a weakness with cabbage rolls, I've had both middle Eastern ones and Slavic ones, I can never stop eating, I always over eat when I have cabbage rolls.
Depending on the recipe used, sometimes a drizzle of fresh lemon juice or some yogurt can make their flavour pop

[suzaynnschick]

As soon as I'm done with Thanksgiving and the attending leftovers, I'm going to make this! It sounds delicious.

[iesika]

I was JUST looking for a good vegetarian cabbage roll recipe when this showed up in my notifications! Thank you!