southern galumpkis

I am a woman who loves to use a crock pot. Though the labor of prepping the food is still a part of the process, the cooking is done for you and clean up is truly a breeze thanks to the one-pot-meal aspect. And bonus… you will likely have leftovers because a crock pot begs to be filled. Who can argue with walking into a house after a long day of work to the delectable aroma of a home cooked meal that is ready to be plated? The answer… NO ONE.

And so, dust off that slow cooker as I present to you - a simple recipe for galumpkis, with a southern twist. Galumpkis are stuffed cabbage rolls of Polish origin. I grew up eating them pretty regularly as my father’s side of the family is Polish. Traditionally they are ground beef and white rice rolled and stuffed inside of a cabbage leaf, then they are slowly stewed in tomato sauce.

My version came from using what I had on hand and fortunately it was a lot of local ingredients, hence the southern bent. I used a local ground pork from Anderson Farms, collard greens from my local farm co-op and black Arkansas rice. This recipe is easy and adaptable. Feel free to sub ground turkey, or beef or even a plant-based “meat”. You can make it paleo or keto by replacing the rice with cauliflower rice. Personally I would stick with the collard greens but any other hardy large leafy green will work.

RECIPE

1 pound of ground pork

1 bunch of collard greens (mine had about 13 large leaves)

1/3 cup of rice

1 28oz can of crushed or chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon of cumin

1 tablespoon of crushed corriander

1 tablespoon of caraway

2 crushed cloves of garlic

large pinch of sea salt

• Wash and dry your greens. Take one leaf and line the bottom of your crock pot with it. With the rest of the leaves cut out the thick part of the stem on the bottom half of the leaf while leaving the top part of the leaf connected by the stem.

• In a mixing bowl combine the meat, rice and spices with your hands. Roll into oval balls/patties. Make as many patties as you have leaves.

• Place your meat & rice patty on the backside and top of the collard green. Roll the leaf down toward you over itself while folding the extra leaf on the sides inward. When the roll is finished you can slide a toothpick through it to keep it from unrolling or just place in the crock pot in a way that keeps the leaf from coming undone. Repeat this until all patties are wrapped in all the greens and stacked in layers inside the crock pot

• Add the can of tomatoes over the top of the stacked galumpkis. Set your crock pot on low and cook for 6 or more hours.

Traditionally galumpkis are made with cabbage leaves that have been steamed or boiled so that they are easy to peel off of the cabbage as well as easy to roll without snapping in half. Collards are more pliable raw and so I personally don’t think they need to be cooked before stuffing. Because they are raw when they go into the pot I feel that they add more flavor to the dish. This is something you can play around with and decide for yourself.

Enjoy this meal on it’s own or served along side some pickled vegetables or roasted potatoes. It’s a deeply comforting dish especially on these cooler Autumn nights as we head into winter.