Cabbage Rolls

Who knows whether this is the recipe my mom used in Canada: all I know is that this dish is so good it's been claimed by Sweden, Hungary, the Ukraine, Poland and the Sub-Continent of Swabia as its national dish.

**NOTE TO SELF: replace "ketchup" with tomato paste and seasoning.

1 head of cabbage

3/4 pound ground beef

2 tablespoons uncooked rice

2 onions, 1 grated and 1 sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons ketchup

1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste

1 large can tomatoes

1 large can tomato soup (or sauce)

1/2 cup brown sugar

Lemon juice to taste

About 6 ginger snaps

Noodles

Butter.

1. Boil cabbage in water about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and cool.

2. In a bowl, mix the ground beef, rice, grated onion, ketchup and egg, and season with salt and pepper.

3. In another bowl, combine canned tomatoes, tomato soup, brown sugar and lemon juice.

4. Separate cabbage leaves and roll about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the beef mixture into each leaf, tucking in the sides. If you have leftover beef, roll it into tiny meatballs.

5. Pour some of the tomato mixture into a deep pot. Crumble a handful of ginger snaps into it, then cover with a layer of rolled cabbage leaves (and tiny meatballs, if you have any), then one layer of sliced onion rings. Repeat until all cabbage rolls are used.

6. Cook on low heat, covered, about 2 1/2 hours. When nearly finished, prepare buttered noodles, and serve with stuffed cabbage.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Note: To get a second meal out of this, put a piece of chuck roast in the bottom of the pot, on top of the first layer of sauce and below the first layer of rolled cabbage.