Golabki Soup
It’s pronounced like “guh-WUMP-key,” in case you had any doubts about that. Don’t be tempted to say “go-LAHB-key” when you are telling all of your friends and family and everyone you know about how delicious this soup is, because they just may laugh at you. Not because of this soup, of course, because as you’ll see it’s incredible and also incredibly easy to make, but just because of your pronunciation of it. Okay, glad we got that settled.
Last month I had a family reunion on my mother’s side of the family. My mother’s mother was one of ten children, and both of her parents (my great grandparents) came to the United States from Poland around 1910. My grandmother’s siblings of course went on to get married and have children, and their children had children, and so on and so forth, so that side of my family is quite large. Sadly the only time everyone usually gets together is on sad occasions like funerals, but my cousin Steve is an excellent planner and he was going to be up visiting New England from North Carolina, so he called for a family reunion. And I am so glad that he did! Mike and I went, spent hours there catching up with everyone I hadn’t seen in years, and had just the best time ever.
Sadly all ten of the siblings I mentioned above have passed away. The wife of one sibling is our last living relative (shout out to Aunt Evelyn) from that generation. So we all gathered at her house for the day. We ate Polish food and American food, we drank the infamous Paradise Cocktail that the ladies especially in my family used to love so much, we played lawn games, we looked through countless picture albums and family trees, and we just talked and spent time with each other. It was such a fabulous day and I’d do it again and again if I had the opportunity to.
Traditional golabki (stuffed cabbage leaves) was one of the Polish food options at the reunion. I remember eating them as a child but not really loving them. But this year when I had the chance to go to town on some Polish food, I really went ahead and did exactly that. My plate was piled high with golabki, pierogi, and kielbasa. I went back for seconds. I took home leftovers. I enjoyed those the next day. It was awesome.
I talked to Aunt Evelyn a lot that day. I heard many stories of our family. She had heard of my food blog, so I showed it to her on my phone and she seemed interested and impressed. It was really sweet. Since she knew I had such an interest in food, and since she knew how good of a cook my grandmother was, we talked about food with each other quite a bit that day. She made the golabki from scratch, so that was a big topic of conversation. We talked about how to make traditional golabki, and quite honestly, it sounds like a huge pain. They are delicious and I was very grateful that she made them, but I’m not sure I would feel as though they were worth it if I were to make them myself. So I thought to myself, why not make a soup out of the very same ingredients instead? So that’s just what I did here! This soup is just as good, if not better, than traditional golabki in my humble opinion. And this way is so much faster and easier! It’s not traditional, that is for certain. But when you want the maximum amount of flavor (and leftovers) for the minimum amount of work, this recipe is just the ticket. And with cooler days approaching, how comforting will it be to have a pot of healthy, delicious soup simmering on your stove?
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add 1 tbsp avocado oil to your Dutch oven and place on the stove over medium heat. When hot, add in the onion and some sea salt. Stir to coat and sauté 8-10 minutes until very soft and fragrant.
- Add in the ground pork and the ground beef and a hefty pinch of sea salt. Brown the meat and break it up to help it cook. When the meat has browned, pour in 6 cups of chicken broth and the crushed tomatoes. Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a low boil.
- When the soup is boiling, add the sliced cabbage and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until the cabbage has softened.
- While the soup simmers, prepare the cauliflower rice using your preferred method, or make the basmati rice if you are following the non-Whole30/paleo option (I use basmati rice and the rice function on my Instant Pot to make the rice).
- To serve, scoop ~½ cup of rice into a bowl. Top with soup, serve hot, and enjoy!
