It is centuries old custom to serve stuffed cabbage on Purim. Cabbage was of course a staple food in Eastern Europe, abundant and easy to store. The connection to Purim? Gematriya again, the ancient art of letter number equation. Cruv which means cabbage has the same letters and numerical value as Baruch which means blessed and is adjective used to describe the Megilla’s hero in the Shoshanat Yaacov poem which we recite after the reading of the Megilla.Stuffed cabbage is another concealed food-the meat is hiding under a cabbage blanket and that fits into the hidden theme of the holiday. Esther concealing her identity, G-d concealing Himself as it were-the name of G-d is conspicuously excluded from the Megila and all the miracles are natural ones-no pyrotechnics ala the splitting of the sea at Purim.

Stuffed cabbages also resemble Torah scrolls-especially when you serve them two at a time. At Purim the Jewish people reaffirmed their allegiance to the Torah.

Here’s a recipe for Stuffed cabbage, sweet, Galicianer or Polish style,this time.
Ingredients
1 savoy cabbage (no stuffed cabbages can’t be red!)
Five small onions.
I can sauerkraut (optional)
1 lb (or 500 grams) chopped meat. I mixed turkey and beef
One cup tomato juice
½ c brown sugar
⅛-¼ tsp of black pepper
Juice of 1 fresh lemon
2 eggs
½ cup white rice
Stuffing Preparation
1. Sauté one small onion.until soft and brown.
2. Add rice to sauté and mix together for a minute. (this is just an initiall sauté; the rice will cook later on when it’s stuffed inside the cabbage rolls)
3. In a separate bowl combine chopped meat with ¼ cup tomato juice, (or ¼ cup water plus 1 and ½ tbsp. tomato paste) two eggs and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add fried onion and rice to meat mixture. Note : in this recipe you don’t precook the meat. It cooks later with the cabbage.
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Cabbage
1. Boil two inches (about 4 cups) of water on the bottom of a large pot (Dutch oven)
2. Insert your cabbage. It can take 10-15 minutes for the cabbage to soften enough that the leaves can be pried loose.
3. Remove cabbage from steaming water.
4. Delicately separate the leaves one at a time.
Tips: You’ll probably be able to get two or three loose at one time and then you’ll return the cabbage to the steaming water to soften some more. This takes patience.
The leaves must be pliable enough to fold and roll.
The art of cabbage stuffing
1. Once you can separate a few outer leaves from the cabbage (small tears don’t matter but try to leave them intact) take a paring knife and thin the vein at the center of the cabbage (a big fat vein will make rolling impossible) taking care not to tear the cabbage leaf.
2. Place a tablespoon of filling at the center of your leaf. (if your leaves are small use less filling.).
3. Roll up the cabbage and press it on both sides to make sure the filling is secure inside. If there’s a small rip on the side, the cabbage will still survive, but try to avoid major leaks.
Cooking
1. Line the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven with quartered onions and sauerkraut. (It’s yummy to throw in a few beef bones and a piece of flanken,)
2. Layer the cabbages on top of the sauerkraut and onions.
3. Continue layering until you’re done.
4. Pour a cup of tomato juice, a half cup of brown sugar, the juice of a lemon and between 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoons of black pepper (add pepper to taste) .
Add 250 grams of tomato paste and 250 grams of water along with more brown sugar and pepper to taste and a handful of raisins.