Almost Turkish Recipes

Baked Cabbage with Ground Meat (Fırında Kıymalı Lahana)





























Baked cabbage with ground meat can be described as either a kind of no-pasta lasagna, börek, or mousakka. However you name it, it is simply delicious and healthy. If not witness the preparation of the dish, it might be even impossible to tell it's cabbage.


1 small to medium cabbage
1/2 lb ground meat
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced (my addition)
2 big tomatoes, diced or 1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 cup ricotta (my addition)
1-2 tbsp basil flakes
1 tsp spicy red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
1/2 parsley, finely chopped

-Take cabbage, discard bad leaves, and break leaves one by one. Wash well.
-Boil water in a big pot with 1 tbsp salt. Cook cabbage leaves in water for 5-7 minutes, or until tender. Preserve 1/3 cup of cooking water.
-Heat oil in a pan. Add first onions and garlic. Stir for a couple of minutes. Then add ground meat and cook until brown by breaking it into small bits.
-Add 1 tbsp tomato paste, black pepper, basil, and salt. Stir for a minute.
-Add diced tomato and cook for 5 minutes.
-Grease an oven safe dish. Layer half of cabbage leaves on the dish.
-Pour the ground meat mix on leaves. Spread ricotta on top and then layer the other half of cabbage leaves.
-Mix 1 tbsp tomato paste well with 1/3 cup of cooking water. Pour it on top of cabbage leaves.
-Sprinkle mozzarella on top.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 380-390F for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted.
-Serve with parsley on top.

18 comments:

  1. Resme bakinca gercekten de lazanya sandim. Bu tarifi ilk kez goruyorum; Turkiye'de bilinen bir tarif mi acaba?
    Iffet

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  2. I love this dish! Looks delicious!
    Thank you, this is the best recipe I come across lately!

    Good luck,
    Laila

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  3. Iffet, cok yaygin bir tarif mi bilmiyorum ama bilinen bir tarif (kalori kaygili gunlerde yaygin olabilir :). Tabi lor peynirlisini yemedim hic. Ben ilk tattigimdan beri hep lazanyaya benzettigim icin lazanyada kullandigim seylerle pisiriyorum arada, hindi sucugu gibi.

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  4. Oh yes, I absolutely love the sound of this! And your addition of ricotta is a brilliant one.

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  5. It looks simply & yummy. I will definitely add this to my "to cook" list.

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  6. Burcu, thanks for the rcipe! I am living in the middle of the Turkish community in Melbourne and there's so many things to discover! :)

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  7. No matter what we call it is is just delicious.

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  8. This is something completely new to me and it looks sooo good. Great pictures too.

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  9. It looks like a cabbage lasagna and sounds really good!

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  10. Great dish and presentation! You make me want to make it again.

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  11. I have to bookmark this to try some time.

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  12. çok lezzetli görünüyor bende denemek istiyorum ama umarım resimdeki gibi yapabilirim :)

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  13. Amazing! It's like a restaurant dish, haha. Very healthy too :) I should give this a try. it looks like a bit of work to make it as perfect as this though!

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  14. Bence bu yemegin adi "LAHANYA" olmali:) Lazanyaya saglikli bir alternatif. Biraz once yaptim, harika gornuyor. Tadina bakmak icin sabirsizlaniyorum.

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  15. This looks so delicious! I must try some of your recipes. The bulgur kofta are drawing me as well!

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  16. very nice recipe thanks

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  17. It looks like it will be tasty based on the ingredients and appears to be easier to make than the traditional stuffed cabbage rolls. I do have one question though--how large of a pan has everyone been using? Square 8" x 8", 9 x 9 or larger like 9 x 11? Thanks!

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  18. I made this a couple of days ago, and it was wonderful. Like just about any baked dish, it tasted even better the next day.

    I used a full pound of ground meat and a pound of ricotta, and assembled it in a 9x12 baking dish. I also added a tiny amount of cinnamon in the meat/tomato mixture.

    Like all the other recipes that I've tried from here, I will happily make it again. Thanks for another great recipe!

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