Lazy Golubtsy

I've been longing to make this dish. It is a simple recipe that always gets me excited to pick up my spoon and be glad to be at a Moldovan dining table. Any Moldovan will probably chuckle at this, as it is a simple and common dish. Plus, the cost of this meal puts my American recipes to shame. 

True to its name, it is the lazy version of the cabbage rolls. I guess this is my way of working up to actually making cabbage rolls.

I used ground beef with this recipe, but you could also use chopped chicken or go without meat.

Ingredients:

meat

diced onions

chopped cabbage

grated carrots

water

rice

tomato paste

dill

bay leaf

salt

pepper

• Sauté meat along with onion until meat in almost cooked through.
• Add cabbage and cook until leaves are tender.
• Add carrots and cook for a few minutes.
• Add amount of water according to how much rice is used and bring to a boil.
• Add rice, tomato paste, dill, bay leaf, pepper and salt. Use a good amount of salt.
• Stir together, bring the water back to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook until rice is soft.
• To complete this Moldovan dish, you need to slice of bread to go with!

*The next time I make this dish I'll use less rice and include more cabbage.