Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Amarante

Thu, Oct 12 2023, 1:43 pm

I ate at a friend who made these because of her vegetarian daughter. They were delicious

You could no doubt use your own cabbage roll recipe and just substitute this filling for your normal meat filling.

Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Excerpt From: Shannon Sarna - Modern Jewish Comfort Food

Serves 6 to 8

Israelis have been well ahead of the curve with promoting plant-based, vegan foods, and have found many ways to re-create meat-free versions of family-favorite recipes. This vegetarian version of stuffed cabbage uses finely chopped mushrooms instead of meat to combine with rice as the filling. You could also use a plant-based meat alternative, if you prefer. If you want to make this dish vegan, you can just leave out the egg in the filling and add a little bit of water or stock to moisten the mixture and to ensure it holds together.

If you want a milder filling, you could also use the simple rice filling from the Vegetarian Israeli Stuffed Peppers here.
1 head green or savory cabbage

For the sauce:
1 small onion, diced
½ apple, peeled, cored, and grated
One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1½ cups stock (chicken or vegetable is fine)
¼ cup white or apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
¼ cup raisins
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
“¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the filling:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)
1 large onion, diced
12 to 14 ounces button or baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
15 ounces (½ cup) dried porcini mushrooms
1½ cups cooked long-grain white or brown rice
1 large egg
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 Prep the cabbage: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Using a paring knife, remove the core from the cabbage. Dunk the cabbage into the boiling water. After 2 to 3 minutes, the leaves will start to soften and you can remove the layers. Repeat until you have 16 leaves.

2 Make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and apple for 5 to 7 minutes, until the water has cooked out and the onion is softened and starts to become golden. Add the tomato sauce, stock, vinegar, brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook for 5 minutes.

3 Make the filling: Heat the olive oil and butter (if using) in a large sauté pan. Cook the onion and mushrooms until completely soft, around 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce, tomato paste, thyme, and oregano and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

4 While the mushrooms are cooking, pour 1 cup of hot water over the dried porcini mushrooms and allow to sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove and chop the mushrooms. Combine the button mushroom mixture, rice, egg, porcini mushrooms, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.

5 Remove the tough stem in the middle of the cabbage leaves using a paring knife. Cover the bottom of an 8-by-13-inch Pyrex baking dish with a thin layer of the sauce, about one-quarter of the sauce.

6 Scoop the rice mixture into an approximately ½-cup oval (smaller leaves might require less filling). Place the scoop of filling in the middle of a cabbage leaf and fold in the sides. Roll up the cabbage leaf and place, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with the remaining cabbage leaves and filling.

7 Add the remaining sauce over the top. Cover with foil and bake for 1½ hours, until the color of the cabbage has changed, the sauce has reduced slightly, and the cabbage rolls can easily be cut into.”