Savoy cabbage rolls with rice and ham

A rich and tasty dish, ideal as an appetizer or as a one-plate meal.

These rolls are cooked at low temperatures with a bamboo steamer to maintain all nutritional properties and flavours. And they are even more delicious when served with a light béchamel sauce flavoured with leeks.

Use a bamboo steamer instead of the classic steel one in order to maintain that typical sweet flavour emanated by bamboo during cooking.

Here’s how to use it step by step: place the steamer into a pot of the same size or a classic Chinese wok.  Fill the pan or the wok with 5-6 cm of water and bring to the boil. Depending on the recipe, add some lemon slices or aromatic herbs in the water. Alternatively, use some vegetable broth.

Bamboo steamers are usually formed by two baskets and a lid. Prior to cooking, it is recommended to line the base with parchment paper, a few leaves of cabbage or lettuce. Place food into the steamer, making sure the individual pieces don’t touch.

It is essential to check that there is always enough water during cooking.

Once finished, simply rinse with water and dry thoroughly before storing. Do not use detergents! At most use some lemon juice or a little vinegar with water.

For this recipe we recommend a 25 cm bamboo steamer.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Difficulty: low

Yields: 4 servings

Budget: low

Ingredients

For the savoy cabbage rolls:

• 1 savoy cabbage
• 300g cooked ham
• 125g rice
• 1 onion
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese (grated)
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

For the béchamel sauce:

•  1 leek
• 30g butter
• 2 glasses of whole milk
• 1 tablespoon flour
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Carefully peel cabbage leaves from the head and wash them. Prepare the steamer as previously explained and cook the leaves for five minutes or until they start to soften. Once ready, remove them from the basket and cut out their hard central core.
2. In the meantime, boil the rice in salted water for about ten minutes. Remove from the stove and let it cool. Finely chop the onion and the cooked ham and mix with rice, grated Parmesan cheese and egg. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Spread each leaf of cabbage on the cutting board, fill with a generous spoonful of mixture, then fold over and seal.
4. Line the baskets with the most damaged cabbage leaves and arrange the rolls over them. Place the steamer into the pot with boiling water. If you like, you can flavour the water with the leek scraps. Cook the rolls for 35 minutes, checking the water level from time to time.
5. For the béchamel sauce: trim off the root and the green part from the leek, remove the first leaves and cut it into slices. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the leek and stew until it softens, using a few tablespoons of vegetable broth or hot water. Stir in the flour and add the milk, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens. Pass it through a sieve or process in a food mixer to obtain a perfectly smooth sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Place the cabbage rolls in a tray, cover with the béchamel sauce and serve.