Vegetarian stuffed cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

  • 100g uncooked basmati rice
  • 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 head cabbage
  • 100g green lentils
  • 2 cans chopped tomatoes (800g total)
  • 1-1/4 teaspoons dried basil
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Salt + pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small red onion, diced
  • 75g diced red bell pepper
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 90g raisins
  • 35g roasted almonds, roughly chopped
  • Grape vinegar

Method:

  1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the rice and turmeric. Return to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pan and allow to cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, bring another large pan of water to a boil. Cut out the core from the head of cabbage. Gently tear off the larger leaves, keeping them whole. Add the leaves to the pan of water and cook until soft. Drain and let the leaves cool.
  3. Bring 1.5 cups of water to a boil in another pan. Add the lentils and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
  4. Prepare the sauce by combining the crushed tomatoes, basil, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Remove from heat and stir in the fresh basil. Set aside.
  5. Add the oil, onion and bell pepper to a pan over medium heat. Cook until soft, stirring frequently. Transfer the onion mixture to a large bowl. In the same pan, sauté the raisins until juicy and plump. Add to the large bowl along with cooked rice, lentils, almonds and a sprinkle of salt. Stir together. Add the beaten egg and mix until well combined.
  6. Place a cabbage leaf on a flat work surface. Fill with the some rice filling depending on how large the leaf is. Fold the thick end of the leaf over the filling, then fold in the sides and roll up. Place seam-side down in a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining leaves.
  7. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls. Bake for 45 minutes, remove from the oven and pour over a generous amount of grape vinegar over the rolls. Return to the oven to bake for another 15 mins. Serve with additional grape vinegar if desired.

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s