Low-FODMAP Hungarian cabbage rolls

All, Big plates, Hot food, Soups, stews, slow-cooker

Low-FODMAP | Gluten-free
Serves 6–8 · about 2 hours

A low-FODMAP take on Hungarian töltött káposzta — tender cabbage leaves wrapped around a savoury pork and rice filling, gently simmered in tomato until everything is meltingly soft. Smoked bacon, paprika and caraway carry the deep, comforting flavour without any onion or garlic. This is proper slow food: worth the afternoon, and even better the next day.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium heads of cabbage
  • 2 tbsp oil or lard
  • ½ tbsp paprika
  • 500g (1lb) minced pork
  • 100g (3.5oz) smoked bacon, finely chopped
  • 200g (7oz) rice
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1 to 1.5 tsp salt
  • 2 pinches ground caraway seed
  • 2.5–3 litres (10–12 cups) tomato juice, or 500ml (2 cups) tomato purée

Method

  1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
  2. While the water heats, peel the outer leaves of the cabbage and core the heads. Place each head core-side up in the boiling water. The cabbage is ready when you can easily peel the leaves away one by one with a wooden spoon.
  3. Remove the cabbage from the water, take out the hard ribs from the base of each leaf, and cut the leaves lengthwise in half. Repeat for both heads. Set the leaves aside to cool, and reserve any torn or leftover cabbage.
  4. As the leaves cool, make the stuffing. Heat the oil or lard in a large pan over medium heat, then take it off the heat and stir in the paprika so it blooms without burning.
  5. In a large bowl, combine the minced pork, chopped smoked bacon, rice, black pepper, salt, ground caraway and the warm paprika oil. Mix well with your hands until evenly combined.
  6. Place a spoonful of filling near the cut edge of each cabbage leaf, fold in the sides, and roll up firmly to enclose. Repeat until all the filling is used.
  7. Shred any reserved cabbage and scatter it over the base of a large pot. Pack the cabbage rolls on top, seam-side down, in snug layers.
  8. Pour over the tomato juice (or stir the tomato purée into enough water to cover and pour that in) until the rolls are just submerged. Bring gently to a simmer.
  9. Cover and simmer gently on low for about 1½ hours, until the rice and pork are cooked through and the cabbage is very tender. Top up with a little water or tomato juice if the level drops.
  10. Rest for 10 minutes before serving. Lovely with a spoonful of the tomato cooking liquid over the top.

Tips

  • Blooming the paprika off the heat is important — paprika scorches and turns bitter fast over direct heat, so pull the pan off before it goes in.
  • The rice goes into the filling raw and cooks as the rolls simmer, soaking up flavour from the tomato. Don’t pre-cook it.
  • Roll firmly but not too tight — the rice swells as it cooks and needs a little room, or the rolls can split.
  • Like most slow-cooked dishes, these are even better the next day once the flavours settle. They reheat and freeze well.
  • The flavour here rests on paprika, caraway and smoked bacon rather than onion and garlic, keeping it low-FODMAP. Use a good-quality Hungarian paprika if you can — it makes a real difference.