Cabbage Tamales

8 cabbage leaves

1 pound ground beef

1 ½ cups uncooked white rice

2 (6.5 ounce) cans tomato sauce

3 teaspoons New Mexico red chile powder

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup chopped onions

salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chile peppers

Freeze the cabbage leaves or blanch them for about 3 minutes in a large pot of boiling water to soften.

Place the ground beef, rice, tomato sauce, chile powder, garlic, onion, salt, and black pepper in a bowl. Mix with your hands until combined. Divide the meat mixture into 8 portions and place the meat on the softened cabbage leaves. Roll the leaves up to form logs and tuck the edges under the logs.

Place the tamales into a pressure cooker or slow cooker. Pour diced tomatoes with green chiles over tamales.

To cook tamales in a pressure cooker: seal the lid of the pressure cooker and bring it up to full pressure. Reduce the heat to low, maintaining full pressure, and cook for 1 hour. Use the quick-release function or allow the pressure to reduce naturally.

To cook tamales in a slow cooker: place the lid on the slow cooker and set it on High. Cook the tamales for 4 hours.