Easy Stuffed Cabbage (Malfoof)

Stuffed Cabbage (Malfoof) is part of a larger family of what is called Mahashi or stuffed vegetables. It’s one of the yummiest of the pack because of its flavorful ingredients. Also very popular with moms because it’s a little easier to prepare than others in its family!

Malfoof means cabbage in Arabic and can be written as malfuf or malfouf. In my household, this is also a popular dish. Our family enjoys a good Malfoof stew because it’s hearty, satisfying, and packed with so much wonderful flavors. I love it because it can be prepped in advance and easily made to be eaten over a few days. We love eating it drowned in its stew juices or as a finger food! Tastes amazing either way!

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Preparing the Cabbage

There are a few ways to prepare your cabbage before stuffing. The main thing to be done is get the leaves soft and tender enough to fold and roll after stuffing. So, how do we get them that way?

Boiling The Cabbage for the Stuffed Cabbage (Malfoof)

Well, first of all, it’s important to wash your cabbage head. Next, you want to decide how you want to tenderize the leaves. The most common technique is to boil the cabbage. Oftentimes, you do this by boiling the whole cabbage. You pit the cabbage, meaning you slice out the core by slitting around its edges with a knife and pulling it out. This ensures that the leaves will come apart much more easily after boiling. Another way is to core it and pull apart the leaves and boil the leaves already separated. It’s really all up to you which process makes you more comfortable. Some people boil the cabbage whole without even removing the core, so that’s also optional.

Whether you’re removing the core or not, if you’re not planning on boiling, it’s best to get the water to a boil first. Then, add some salt and drop your cabbage head or leaves in to boil. Keep an eye on your cabbage as it boils. It needs about 20 minutes or just until tender. Overcooking it as this stage is bad because the leaves will tear as you pull them apart or roll them. If you already separated the leaves, you’ll nearly half the boiling time. The leaves should be a little translucent and tender to the touch with some rigidity.

A Cabbage Prep Hack

Don’t want to boil your cabbage head? There’s a hack that many people use. They freeze the cabbage head a full day ahead and remove from the freezer a couple of hours ahead of time. As it thaws, the leaves become translucent and tender!

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The Stuffing for Stuffed Cabbage (Malfoof)

The stuffing for the Stuffed Cabbage (Malfoof) is none other than the famous dolma stuffing. Yes, it’s the same stuffing used in stuffed zucchini grape leaves (also part of the mahashi family. You can use my meat and rice- hashweh recipe which is easy to follow and recreate. It’s basically a mix of ground beef and rice of your choice (best with short-grain rice) and a mix of spices. You use the stuffing raw and place it in the center of each cabbage leaf and fold and roll it. The stuffing will cook thoroughly and evenly in the sauce. You do have the option of precooking the meat if you’re more comfortable with that.

Furthermore, a great thing about cabbage is that it doesn’t require as much skill and effort in stuffing and rolling as other mahashi veggies do. It can be done quicker and much more easily than grape leaves or having to core other veggies like zucchini before stuffing. They are also easier to cook because cabbage leaves are hard to overcook or undercook, unlike other green leaves.

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Other types of Mahashi (Stuffed Vegetables)

The mahashi family is a large one. Any vegetable you can core or fold can be stuffed with the hashweh or meat and rice stuffing. The star of the mahashi family is stuffed grape leaves or dolma. Stuffed zucchini and eggplant come in a close second. Many people also stuff bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, artichokes. Another green that can be stuffed and rolled is swiss chard but it’s definitely a lot more sensitive than grape leaves and should be treated delicately.

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Tips – How To Make Malfoof

• While boiling the cabbage head for Stuffed Cabbage (Malfoof), you will notice it floats so you may want to flip it over half way through boiling to get it cooked on all sides.
• Drain the cabbage head or leaves after boiling to remove excess water.
• After rolling the cabbage leaf, it’s a great idea to squeeze it. This removes excess water and helps the rolled cabbage keep its form while cooking.
• Don’t overdo the stuffing inside because the rice will fluff as it cooks in the sauce causing it to double in size. If there’s too much stuffing, it will come out of the leaf.
• To keep the rolled cabbage from coming apart, you can put a glass dish face down on top of the rolled cabbage in the pot to keep them in place and help them cook evenly.
• For added flavor and juices, you can stack tomatoes between layers.

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What You Need to Make this Recipe

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker (Optional but recommended)

Ingredients

• 2 cabbage heads

Cabbage Stuffing

• 1½ lbs ground meat
• 2 cups short-grain rice
• 2 onions minced
• 10-15 cloves garlic minced
• 2 teaspoons seven spices
• 1 tablespoon sumac
• ¼ cup oil
• salt to taste
• ¼ teaspoon citric acid
• 2 teaspoons black pepper

Sauce

• ¼ cup oil
• 4 cups warm water
• 6 cloves garlic crushed
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 2 lemons juiced
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon seven spices

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Preparation

1. Place the cabbage head in boiling water for 20 minutes or so, until it becomes tender and leaves start to slightly fall off.  Don’t over boil since leaves will become too soft to roll.
2. At the root of the cabbage cut deep with a knife around in square form.  After cutting well, pull the root out with a fork. This can be done before or after.
3. Drain cabbage and begin to separate leaf by leaf.  With a knife cut horizontally the tip of each leaf that is hard to smooth out surface and leaf becomes foldable.
4. Mix all ingredients under “cabbage stuffing”.  You can add more salt to taste. I usually taste the mix (I don’t swallow it) then fix salt to your liking.
5. Put about 2 tablespoons of the rice mix in one whole leaf or half the leaf, fold in from the right then the left of leaf and begin to roll.  Line up the rolled cabbage in pressure cooker or a large pot.
6. Mix all ingredients under “sauce”, then pour over rolled cabbage in pressure cooker pot.  Set pressure cooker to 16 minutes. 
7. Once done, you can taste it, adjust any taste in the sauce if needed.  Drain most of the water out by placing a plate over the cabbage inside the pot. Enjoy with black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

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Other Enjoyable Recipes

• Mexican Chicken Zucchini Skillet
• Quick Spicy Beef (Sujuk) Pizza
• Grilled Lime and Cilantro Shrimp
• Lemon Mint Garlic Chicken Stew
• Healthy Pasta Salad and Dressing
• Cilantro Chicken Egg Rolls
• Sujuk Fatteh and Fattet Sujuk
• Pasta and Beef in Yogurt Sauce
• The Best Chicken Healing Soup
• Stacked Beef Shawarma Salad

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