Sunday, February 3, 2008

Stuffed Cabbage

I've been vegan for nearly twelve years now, and I never feel like I'm missing out on anything because I can veganize basically any recipe. My grandmother on the Slovakian and Polish side of the family used to make fantastic stuffed cabbage for holidays. I have been in the mood for stuffed cabbage all day today, so I'm posting my altered version of her basic recipe to remind myself to buy cabbage next time I'm at the market so that I can make this!

Ingredients:

2 packages of veggie ground meat subsitute (I prefer the Lightlife Smart Ground)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper (to taste)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup cooked brown rice (I like to cook it in a little vegetable stock for added flavor)
1 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cans tomato sauce
27 ounces sauerkraut, drained (optional)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 medium head cabbage
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups water

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the Smart Ground, onion, cooked rice, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic, and 1/2 can of tomato sauce. Core the cabbage and and boil in a pot of water until partly cooked (don't overcook!), then separate the leaves and trim off the stems. Set aside between 24 and 32 whole leaves. Use the remaining leaves to line the bottom of a large baking pan, roasting pan, or casserole dish. Stuff a small handful of the Smart ground mixture in the center of a cabbage leaf. Fold top part of leaf over mixture, then fold in the sides and roll until mixture is completely encased. Lay rolls on top of the extra cabbage leaves in pan. If you are so inclined, spoon some sauerkraut over rolls, then sprinkle with sugar. Mix chopped tomatoes and sauce with water and pour over rolls. Add additional water as necessary to reach top of cabbage rolls. Bake for about an hour or so until cooked through and hot.

Cieszą się! (enjoy!)

5 comments:

Veggie said...

I've been thinking about veganizing this one for awhile now, your recipe sounds good.

Lauren Turek said...

thanks! I was really happy with how this one turned out :0)

Anonymous said...

hi! just made your recipe. didn't see what sized cans of tomato sauce, so i improvised. it's yummy! i also added a tbsp of caraway seeds to the grounds mixture. thanks for the idea!

Anonymous said...

You sure look nice. i am not a robot.

I like this but my wife is kinda sensitive to tomato...so i'm trying to figure out a non-acidic sauce/broth to cover them...any ideas would be apprreciated.

Lauren Turek said...

I wonder if making a carrot or roasted red pepper-based sauce or puree might be a good alternative to tomato sauce in your case? I might experiment with creating a puree of carrots and vegetable broth (or carrots, white beans, and vegetable broth) or roasted red peppers and vegetable broth. I'm not sure how it would come out, but it is certainly worth a shot!