ملفوف محشي بالرز و اللحمه المفرومه- Stuffed Cabbage , Malfouf

This Malfouf recipe is dedicated to beverly555 .
Ingredients:

-1 Medium Cabbage
-1 ½ cups ground beef or ground lamb
-1 medium diced onion
- 1 cup short grain rice
- Garlic, you need few whole garlic cloves peeled and some minced. But using garlic is always ptional, you may use whole head of garlic with the peel in between the layers
- 2 to 3 teaspoons of the following spices: Cumin, Caraway, Coriander, Cinnamon, Salt and Black Pepper. You may use all the above spices or omit whichever you do not like.
-Cooking oil
-1 cup Lemon juice
-1 cup water or as needed

Directions:

-Wash and drain rice
-Mix up the ground meat, diced onions and rice; add cooking oil and the spices (Cumin, Caraway, Coriander, Salt and Black Pepper) set aside.
-Prepare your cabbage leaves by separating the leaves from the cabbage head. Cut away stems, save them and use them at the bottom of the pot.
-Boil the leaves a few at a time in boiling salted water until they are soft enough to roll.
-Prepare stuffing of meat, rice, salt, pepper and the above spices
-Cut the leaves to form a cigar size roll. Place stuffing on each leaf, fold sides toward center and roll up from bottom into a cigar shape (similar with stuffed vine leaves). Do not over stuff; make sure that you have space for the rice to expand inside the cabbage rolls.
-Press together firmly. Place layer of the saved stems
-Place the whole garlic heads in between the rolled Malfouf.
-Sprinkle with salt, caraway and cumin in between layers. Add water, boil then simmer for an hour to an hour and a half. Half way through the cooking time add crushed garlic on top. Let simmer. Simmer gently until rice is tender in barely enough water to cover. Invert your pot in a platter
-You may serve this dish hot or at room temperature, depends on your personal taste.

Malfouf- Stuffed Cabbage