Since I'm working from home today, I thought I should make the stuffed cabbage tonight instead of Friday. I've never made it before, so I perused my options for recipes from which to glean ideas. I knew I wanted it to be vegetarian-no problem there. I decided to use red lentils. I also saw Rachael Ray's recipe for stuffed cabbage stoup. Hmm. That's a thought. Maybe next time, I thought to myself. So, I checked out the usual suspects of ingredients & set to work. The thing I needed to really know was how to soften the cabbage leaves. Some said freeze it, but then others said freezing makes the leaves kind of inedible-the leaves are my favorite part! So I decided to use the par-boil method. I set my giant head into my pot & tried to cover it with water. Did you know cabbage floats?
I boiled it for a bit. Maybe a little too long-the outer leaves were kind of mushy. But I just peeled those off.
While my cabbage cooled off enough to handle, I set about making the filling.
Red lentils, bulgar wheat, and lots of seasonings. I didn't cook the red lentils-they are much thinner than their green & brown counterparts, so they cook much quicker.
Paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder & allspice. Worcestershire sauce & red wine vinegar.
I boiled some brown minute rice, but not all the way so it wouldn't get too mushy in the oven.
I added the rice & some of the water to the lentil mixture, keeping it a little wet.
Then it was time to roll! I gently peeled off each layer of the leaves and place a little filling on it.
Then roll em up & put em in the baking dish.
Here's the problem I ran into. The inner leaves aren't really usable-they're hard & 'unrollable'. I still had filling left, what was I supposed to do now?
You know me-I love a challenge! Remember the above 'stoup' recipe? I can do that, then I can use the whole cabbage head & the rest of the filling. So I dumped in the rest of the filling, rice and chopped up the rest of the cabbage. Ok, now what can I use for the base? I only have 3 cans of tomatoes for the actual rolls. Pantry to rescue!
I don't care for this soup on its own, but I bet it would be a perfect base for my stoup!
Was it a success? Did I fail miserably? Won't know till dinner. Check back later!
