Stuffed Cabbage with Tomato Sauce

Stuffed cabbage rolls are apparently really popular everywhere. If you google search for stuffed cabbage rolls, you'll find all sorts of variation i.e. the Hungarian töltött káposzta are stuffed with rice, meat, and/or sauerkraut and are served with a sauce of paprika and tomato with sour cream. In Poland, golabki are stuffed with minced meat, chopped onions and/or rice or barley; served with a spicy or sweet-and-sour tomato sauce...and the list goes on. I've never had anything like this, so I decided to give it a try. This is really comfort food with all the meat, delicious tomatoey gravy and of course the rice! A great heartwarming one-pot dish!


Ingredients:
1 head savoy cabbage1 large onion - cut into wedges3 cloves garlic - minced250g minced beef1/2 rice cup uncooked rice1 handful parsley - coarsely chopped1 tbs tomato pasteA dash of Worcestershire sauceSaltBlack PepperFor tomato sauce:
2 cans (400g each) Plum Tomatoes1 Onion - cut into wedges3 cloves Garlic - crushed1 bay leaf1 tsp paprikaBrown SugarSalt
Directions:
Cut the core out of the cabbage.Place the whole cabbage in a pot with empty core area facing up.Boil water and pour the water over the cabbage and let it sit for about 10 minutes to soften the cabbage leaves a little.Heat up a bit of oil in a pan.Cook the onions until softened.Add garlic and fry until fragrant.Place fried onions and garlic in a mixing bowl, add minced beef, rice, parsley, tomato paste.Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.Drain the head of cabbage. Remove leaves one by one, cut out the tip of large vein (do not throw the tips, save this for the sauce!). Pat the leaves dry with paper towels.
Place about 2 tbs (more or less depending on the size of your leaf). If leaves are too small, overlap 2 leaves.Roll and wrap.

In a large pot, saute oinons until softened.Add gralic and fry until fragrant.Arrange stuffed cabbages in the large pot.Empty cans of tomatoes into pot, add cut cabbage veins and bay leaf.
Mix in paprika.
Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for about 45 mins. I like my sauce a bit thick, so I added some tomato paste.
Season with sugar and salt.Remove the bay leaf and enjoy!