The ultimate stuffed cabbage hack

My mother's stuffed cabbage is one of my favorite dishes in the world. She makes it with ground beef and rice and simmers the stuffed cabbage leaves in a rich, savory tomato sauce. I could eat trays of it.

My late grandmother used to make a vegetarian version, hers included rice, mushrooms, and barley. The sauce was sweeter than my mother's, leaning a little more to the Polish side of tradition, where sweet foods are more prevalent. I could also eat trays of her stuffed cabbage and I savored the scent of her cooking it up on special days before Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

There are countless del...