Cabbage Rolls
1 large head green cabbage
1 pound burger style crumbles
2 tablespoons olive/vegetable oil
3/4 cup uncooked rice
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (32 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1. In a large soup pot/dutch oven full of water, cook the cabbage head uncovered on high until boiling. After boiling, lower heat and simmer cabbage for 15 minutes (covered or uncovered). Then let cabbage cool.
2. In a large bowl, microwave (for about 1 minute) crumbles to thaw. Add the olive oil; rice; and salt and pepper.
3. Cut bottom stem portion off cabbage and separate cabbage leaves. Fill each leaf with about an ice-cream scoop full of crumble mixture. Roll closed.
4. Place a layer of tomato sauce on bottom of pot that cabbage was cooked in. Then place cabbage rolls on top of one another in pot. Pour remainder of tomato sauce and water over cabbage rolls. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until rice is tender.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This was really good! I made it as a side dish for Christmas for myself, and other non-vegetarian/vegans actually ended up eating it, too! I ended up changing some things, though. Definitely cook the cabbage for longer than the 30 or so minutes that it says to here. I ended up cooking mine for an hour from beginning to end. It made the leaves easier to peel off the head (and actually, the cabbage still seemed to not be too soft after it was cooked). Also, I would cook the rice ahead of time. I used Basmati, since it was the only thing in my cupboard, which I know is definitely meatier than other rices. But, after all was said and done, the rice still was hard at serving time (although, it didn't taste bad). I also used more rice than the recipe calls for since I am used to the Polish cabbage rolls my Grandma makes (she makes them ricier). Also (and this is something Grandma does, too), I didn't cook the rolls in the bottom of the pan that had been used for the cabbage. Instead, I put them all in a 9x13 pan (I did a layer of tomato puree on the bottom of the pan), and then cooked them in the oven. I'm sure it would have taken roughly the same cooking time as the recipe said even cooking them in the oven (I had it at 350 degrees), had it not been for the rice starting out uncooked. To the actual rice-"meat" mixture, I also added 1/3 cup of marinara sauce (I'm thinking you could just use the puree or sauce you bought to use in the bottom of the pan), 1/2 of a medium size onion, and about 6 T. of hamburger seasoning (my Dad had this in the cupboard...it was from Williams-Sonoma and it was surprisingly vegan...I'm thinking you could get a similar mix from the Kosher section in the local grocery store), along with more rice, as I said before (all-in-all, I probably used about 2 cups worth). Yet another way I changed this was that I didn't use all the marinara sauce the recipe called for. After putting some in the bottom (like I said, I used puree instead of sauce) and putting the rolls on top, I put a little more puree on each roll, and then poured some water over the top. The "juice" then in the bottom of the pan probable came about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way up the side of the 9x13 pan. Hopefully, my remarks haven't been too confusing for people. I'd be more than willing to rewrite my comments here, though, if they have, or if anyone has a question. :) Good recipe, though!