Softened cabbage leaves rolled around minced pork and rice, then baked or simmered in tomato sauce.
What makes it gołąbki
Whole cabbage leaves, blanched to fold.
Minced pork with rice or buckwheat groats.
Cooked slowly in tomato or mushroom sauce.
Where it comes from
The name means little pigeons, perhaps for their plump shape. Stuffed cabbage is made right across central and eastern Europe and the Balkans — sarma, holubtsi, töltött káposzta — and gołąbki are Poland's, a dish for Sunday dinners, weddings and wakes alike.
How it varies
Z kaszą
Buckwheat groats in place of rice.
Wigilia gołąbki
Meatless, with groats and mushrooms — made in some homes for Christmas Eve.