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Mahshi, Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage leaves rolled around herbed rice and simmered in tomato. Patient food, and the kind people ask for by name.

Mahshi, Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, plated and ready to serve
Serves
6
Total time
90 min
Cost per serving (United States)
$4.59

Ingredients

  • 1 green cabbage
  • 2 cup long grain white rice
  • 1 yellow onions
  • 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
  • 1 oz tomato paste
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 lemon
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Core the cabbage and lower the whole head into boiling water for 5 minutes. Peel off the softened outer leaves as they loosen, and return the head to the water for the next layer.

  2. Shave down the thick rib on each leaf so it will roll without tearing.

  3. Mix the uncooked rice with the finely chopped onion, chopped parsley and cilantro, cumin, half the tomatoes, two tablespoons of oil and a good amount of salt.

  4. Put a spoonful near the stem end of a leaf, fold the sides in, and roll it up snugly. Not tightly: the rice swells.

  5. Line the pot with any torn leaves so nothing catches, then pack the rolls in seam down, in layers.

  6. Whisk the remaining tomatoes with the tomato paste, the lemon juice, the last of the oil and two cups of water. Pour it over.

  7. Set a plate on top to keep them down, cover, and simmer very gently for 50 minutes until the rice is tender.

  8. Rest 10 minutes off the heat before serving, or they fall apart.

What this costs, country by country

Each figure is the ingredients for the full recipe at prices read in that country’s own shops, in its own currency. Nothing here is converted from dollars.

The cost of this recipe in 11 countries, each in its own currency, with how many of the 10 ingredients we could price in each. Figures are not converted between currencies, so the rows cannot be ranked against each other.
CountryWhole recipePer servingPriced from
Australia$50.38$8.4010 of 10 ingredients
United Kingdom£14.22£2.379 of 10 ingredients
United States$27.56$4.598 of 10 ingredients
New Zealand$41.97$7.008 of 10 ingredients
Egypt‏٧٠٦٫٩٧ ج.م.‏‏١١٧٫٨٣ ج.م.‏8 of 10 ingredients
Canada$107.64$17.948 of 10 ingredients
Germany15,70 €2,62 €8 of 10 ingredients
Austria€ 21,04€ 3,518 of 10 ingredients
Spain9,25 €1,54 €7 of 10 ingredients
Mexico$944.21$157.377 of 10 ingredients
Greece14,30 €*2,38 €5 of 10 ingredients

* We have read fewer than seven in ten of these ingredients in that country, so the total is a partial figure and the real one is higher.

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