malfouf

Malfouf consists of cabbage stuffed with a mixture of rice, ground beef, garlic and spices, cooked in a a garlic and lemon broth. It&#039;s a labour of love, but oh so worth it!

Malfouf (Lebanese Cabbage Rolls)

Green Cabbage ((small heads))

Water

salt

short grain rice (calroze,

ground beef (lean

onion (finely diced)

garlic (crushed)

allspice (or replace with seven spice mixture)

black pepper

chicken stock (or vegetable)

water

lemons juice of (more per preference)

olive oil

mint

garlic

Start by carving out the cabbage root, all around, and digging as deep as you can. This step will detach the cabbage leaves and loosen them easily in the next step. Be careful when doing this - Cabbage is hard to cut through with a knife, so do this slowly!

Next, to a pot of boiling water, add the salt and the head of cabbage and allow it to boil for a few minutes, flipping it on both sides.

Once boiling, you can start to loosen the leaves using a pair of tongs, and they should come off easily. Keep separating the leaves, and if you find some of them are very thick and hard, keep them in the water for a few extra minutes to soften them.

Loosen the leaves until you reach the middle which won&#39;t have any more large enough leaves to stuff. You can save it to use in another recipe. Repeat with the second head of cabbage.

Remove the leaves and place on a paper towel lined tray or a colander to drain. Allow them to cool.

To prepare the cabbage:

Finely dice the onions and crush the garlic cloves called for in the filling

Mix together the washed short grain rice, ground beef, onions, garlic, and the spices. Use your hands (you can use gloves if you need to) to ensure the meat and the rice are mixed together very well

To prepare the filling:

To prepare the cabbage leaves for rolling, place one leaf on a cutting board and cut away the thick rib in the middle of the leaf using a knife or kitchen scissors. Then continue cutting upwards from where the rib was to form two equal sized pieces

Place 1-2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of the cabbage leaf and pack it together and spread it out slightly, leaving an inch of space near each of the edges

Roll the cabbage upwards, maintaining a tight grip. There is no need to fold the edges over, as the cabbage leaves are sturdy and won&#39;t leak any of the filling whilst cooking

Continue rolling all of the leaves until the filling is finished (you should only have a few leaves left, but if you end up with leftover filling, read the notes)

Rolling the cabbage:

In a non-stick pot, drizzle a bit of olive oil and lay a few cabbage leaves at the bottom. Start stacking the cabbage rolls in the pot tightly next to each other

Mix together the broth ingredients (except for the garlic cloves and mint) and pour over the cabbage rolls. Sprinkle over the garlic cloves and the mint, and place a plate inverted on top

Bring to a boil on medium high heat. Once boiling, decrease the heat to medium and simmer for 1.5 hours, checking on it after the one hour mark. Adjust the seasoning by adding more salt, or more lemon juice per preference

Remove from heat after testing a piece and ensuring that the cabbage is really soft. Serve with more lemon juice and a side of tangy yogurt!

Cooking the Malfouf:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sAfpUR8qvM

Authentic Lebanese Cabbage Rolls recipe. For full recipe details visit:
www.hungrypaprikas.com

Malfouf Recipe (Lebanese Cabbage Rolls)

This simple summer cabbage salad is dressed with a lemon and sumac dressing and mixed with bell pepper, green onion, and parsley.

Salatet Malfouf - Lebanese Red Cabbage Salad

red bell pepper, very finely chopped

green onions, finely chopped

parsley

juice of half a lemon ((roughly 1-2 Tbsp))

Tbsp rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

granulated sugar ((or sugar alternative of your choice))

sumac

¼ tsp white pepper

In a small jar, combine all of the dressing ingredients (lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, sumac, and white pepper). Shake to combine.

In a bowl place your chopped cabbage. Add your dressing and massage it into the cabbage for around 30 seconds. Add the other vegetables and mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust salt if necessary. Enjoy!

In the Middle East, stuffing vegetables is very common. One of the most popular are Malfoof, which are stuffed green cabbage leaves. These are filled with minced meat &amp; seasoned rice then rolled in pre-boiled cabbage leaves which then simmers in a pot for hours. This dish is so worth all the effort!

Malfoof (Stuffed Cabbage Leaves)

Cabbage heads (Green)

Salt & Cumin to season boiling water

lb Ground Beef (80/20)

White Rice (short, medium, or long grain)

Tomatoes (Finely chopped)

Onion (Finely chopped)

tbsp Seven Spice

tbsp Ground Turmeric

tbsp Ground Cumin

Salt & Pepper to taste (Be generous enough

Olive oil

tbsp Tomato Paste

tbsp Red pepper paste (shatta) (optional)

Salt (Start

tsp Ground Cumin

Garlic (chopped)

tbsp Olive oil

Bouillon cube, crushed

Create deep cuts with a sharp knife around the stem of the cabbage. This will allow for the cabbage leaves to fall off the core easily.

In a large pot, add water 3/4 of the way and sprinkle salt and cumin. Bring water to a boil.

Gently place the cabbage head into the water and use a large fork to keep hold of the cabbage as it is placed under the water. The leaves will start to fall off within minutes. Grab them gently with a tong and place them in a large platter next to you.

For the filling, mix together all its ingredients well.

Next, prep your work station. You will need a cutting board and sharp knife along with the tray of cabbage leaves, the bowl of filling, and a clean tray for the stuffed cabbage rolls.

First, place the cabbage leaf onto the cutting board and cut alongside the white stem in the center to form two leaves. Don&#039;t throw out the center but rather save to make my cabbage soup and line the bottom of the pot with.

Add 1-1 1/2 tbsp of filling onto one side of each leaf depending on the size of the leaf.

Roll it tightly and repeat.

Set aside on the clean platter and repeat this step until all the leaves are stuffed.

Saute an entire garlic head in 2 tbsp of olive oil in the bottom of the pot that will be used to stack the leaves in.

Once the garlic is fragrant and lightly browned, sprinkle salt &amp; pepper. Add the extra pieces of the cabbage that was trimmed or leftover cabbage leaves too. Mix together and cook for a few minutes. Shut off the heat and let the pot cool a bit for layering the stuffed cabbage.

Begin stacking the cabbage rolls tightly next to one another in the pot on top of the sauteed garlic and lefotver cabbage.

Mix together the tomato paste, chilli paste, boiling water, cumin, boullion cube, olive oil, and salt for the cooking liquid.

Pour the liquid on top of the stuffed cabbage leaves until they are just covered completely plus an extra inch.

Place a plate on top fitting to the pot. Bring to a boil then cover the pot and simmer for 2.5 hours until the cabbage is super tender. Serve alongside yogurt &amp; lemon wedges. Enjoy!

Thank you for this recipe! As a first-timer, it was easy and delicious! I truly appreciate you sharing this with us. :)

Love this dish! Easy recipe even for a beginner like me!! I even followed the maklouba recipe. I’m in love. 😍

I tried this recipe during Ramadan and it was a big hit in our family, my 5 year old as well as husband enjoyed it, so much so that he’s asked for it to be a staple in our regular meals. Look forward to trying out more recipes!

love the flavor palette of this dish. super easy to make ! Great for big dinner parties !

I have been dreading making this recipe for years and was always intimidated by the cabbage. It was so easy and delicious!

This is the second time I made malfouf using this recipe and my Kuwaiti husband loves it! Thank you❤️

I made this for the first time and it was a sucess! 
So tasty and with a lot of flavour! Tender in melt in your mouth! it was a success, we devoured it with love!
Super easy to follow with detailed steps by step direction with pictures, nothing can go wrong!
I made it vegan by using beyond meat ground beef! 
Thank you Haifa for another incredibly delicous recipe! Sahteen

This is absolutely delicious! I am learning my way on how to cook Middle Eastern food, and thanks to Heifa I’ve been able to make my Palestinian partner proud. I surprised him with this dish when he came home from work. One bite and he said it took him back to his childhood. I highly recommend trying it!

While I don’t make malfoof a lot when I do, I hop in and find this recipe. It’s delicious. I do leave out the shatta because of my little girls.

Best malfoof I’ve ever made 😍 I got so many compliments

I made it vegetarian and my pregnant sister loved it so much..it was really tasty and they melted soo yummy...today I will make your samosas InshaAllah...we are a
half palestinian and used to live in Palestine when we were kids so i am so glad that I found you on IG and now your blog..such nostalgia and brings amazing childhood memorera...best recepies ever..now i have switched from following Swedens largest middle-eastern blog to yours😁

I followed this recipe to the T and it came out amazingggggg, I will say this though, the filling is a lot. It is enough for 5 small to medium cabbages. I had to go back to the store to grab two more cabbages and I still had left over filling. I added some pomegranate molasses but everything was delicious!

Ok, this is such a wonderful recipe! It came out so yummy! Definitely will be on repeat. Thank you so much, Heifa. I have made malfoof before with different herbs and lemon, but this one just had flavors that went so well together. ❤️

Perfect recipe with really good step by step directions. Definitely a labor of love but not quite as tedious as Dawali.

Tried it yesterday.  Very good and tender. Melt in your mouth for sure. The only thing I don’t like is the cumin. It took away from the other flavors. I would leave out cumin next time. Not sure what to replace with but very delicious recipe.

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Top Tags

Malfouf (Lebanese Cabbage Rolls)

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The most viewed malfouf recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine