Sweet & Sour Un-Stuffed Cabbage Soup

We adore stuffed cabbage but making it can be awfully time consuming. Enter Un-Stuffed Cabbage Soup, tastes just as delicious and takes just a fraction of the work and time to make.  We make this for a quick hearty meal in the pressure cooker which cuts the time even more, but it’s just as easily made in a pot on the stovetop.
Sweet & Sour Un-Stuffed Cabbage Soup 

• olive oil
• 1/2 lb chuck steak, 1/2-inch dice, seasoned with salt & pepper
• 1 lg onion, diced
• 8-10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 2 medjool dates, chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins
• juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp. sour salt
• 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes
• 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 4 c. chicken or beef stock
• 1 small head green cabbage, roughly chopped
• salt & pepper to taste

(I make this in a pressure cooker but you can use a soup pot.)
Heat the olive oil and then sear the chuck steak cubes on all sides until browned. Remove the steak from the pot and set aside.  To the same pot add the onions and sauté until they begin to caramelize.  Add the garlic and ground beef and cook until the beef is browned.  Return the steak to the pot and add all the remaining ingredients.  Cook until the cabbage is tender. (I use a pressure cooker, 15 minutes at high pressure and then I let it cool to reduce the pressure instead of just releasing the valve)  Salt and pepper to to taste.  This is good the first day but gets better after it sits a day or two.
Enjoy!