This weekend was another cholent experiment.  A couple of weeks ago I tried a chicken cholent.  It had small white beans in it and after doing a little research, I included some rice and chicken stuffed peppers.  As I stated in another post, the experiment was a disaster.   Chicken is  a tough thing to use in cholent – it doesn’t get more tender as it cooks like beef does.  Instead it can get really dried out.

I hated the stuffed peppers.  Not surprisingly, the peppers did not hold up well after 18 hours of cooking.  But, I liked the filling.   I read that there are versions of Sephardic Hamin that include stuffed vegetables – eggplant, peppers, zucchini, etc.  As I was thinking about what I could do, my Ashkenazie genes kept creeping in.  All I could think about was stuffing cabbage leaves.  I have to admit, a couple of weeks ago I was craving cabbage rolls, not one of my normal cravings.  So it made sense to go forward.  The thing is, the idea of beans or barley alongside the cabbage rolls didn’t seem like a good move to me.

I hemmed and hawed all week while I was planning the Shabbat experiment.  I asked many people ‘does cholent have to have beans?  How about barley?  I heard a couple of emphatic nays, but mostly it was yays.  For the most part, people agree that cholent can be anything, as long as it’s slow cooked from sun-down on Friday night and enjoyed for a midday meal on Saturday.  So I ploughed on.

The first thing one must do is get a large head of cabbage (regular, green cabbage), cut the core out and freeze the sucker.  Overnight, or until it’s frozen through.  Must think ahead on this one – because it’ll take at least a day in the fridge to thaw (though of course, less time on the counter).  Next, I had to get the filling ready. That would be 1 lb. of ground chicken dark meat (you could use ground beef instead), 1 cup of long grain white rice (rinsed), 2 small onion (chopped), kosher salt and black pepper.  The picture also shows garlic, but I thought better of it and didn’t include it.  Mix it all together.

I then went about rolling the filling (not too tightly) in the larger cabbage leaves.  (I had a picture of the rolling process that has mysteriously disappeared!).  I was planning on placing a single layer on the bottom of my (sprayed) large dutch-oven,  but there was enough filling for a few more, so they just went on top.  Then I arranged 6 skinless chicken thighs so that they fit around those extra rolls.

I thought it could do with a few more vegetables so I added some carrots (big chunks) and button mushrooms (whole or cut in half). For liquid, I mixed together a small can of diced tomatoes and 3 cups of tomato juice.  Added some water, salt, black pepper and fresh garlic.  Missing from the bowl, but added was about 4 cups of water. The liquid should just cover everything – if it doesn’t cover everything, add a little more water.

There was enough liquid in the pot to the left, but things started to float a little, so it may look like I was a little short.  Pot was covered with a tight-fitting lid (use foil if you don’t have a lid) and placed in the oven at 225.  It’s a great idea to check the pot at about, oh, ten or twelve hours.  If there’s no sign of any liquid, add some.  The last thing you want is for all the liquid to disappear when you still have hours and hours of cooking to go.

Finally, 18 hours after it went in, the ‘cabbage roll cholent’ was done.  This turned out to be my favorite batch so far. The chicken thighs didn’t dry out like they did in the last batch (don’t get me wrong, they were still well done, but not as dry as other attempts.  And the cabbage rolls turned out really well.  The cabbage was of course, very soft – but I like it like that.  All in all, a good experiment.

Next up (in a couple of weeks) lamb cholent.  I’m thinking Middle-Eastern; dried fruits and lots of spices, chickpeas and some sort of grain (any suggestions?)