VEGAN CABBAGE ROLLS WITH PEPPERS

2020-07-06 21:51:38

At the weekend, when there is more time, it’s easier to prepare a more time-consuming dish like cabbage rolls with peppers. I usually prepare a lot of cabbage rolls at once, so I can have several meals. It is comfortable of course when I have no time for cooking over the next few days.

I rarely cook cabbage rolls, however, it’s a great pleasure for me, because this delicious dish was prepared very often by my grandma, so it has a culinary sentimental value for me. Although my grandma prepared the cabbage rolls traditionally in a Polish way with minced meat, my proposal is tasty as well, and I replaced the animal protein with the plant one – this time with yellow lentils.

ingredients

for about 14 cabbage rolls

Cabbage rolls:

one white cabbage
130 g brown rice
200 g yellow lentils
500 g red sweet peppers
2 chili peppers
5 carrots (380 g)
2 small parsley roots (45 g)
1 small piece of celeriac (45 g)
2 medium-sized onions
4 garlic cloves
a handful of parsley
rapeseed oil for frying

Spices:

1 teaspoon marjoram for cooking lentils
1 teaspoon sweet pepper
1 teaspoon smoked pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 allspice berries
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt + a pinch for cooking rice
1/2 teaspoon herbal or black pepper
2 tablespoons soy sauce (optional)

Tomato sauce:

1 kg tomatoes
2 teaspoons tomato puree
3 garlic cloves
a few sprigs of fresh lovage
a few basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon herbal or black pepper
1 tablespoon of tapioca flour (optional)

recipe

Cabbage rolls

Rinse the rice in salted water and cook for approx. 35 minutes. Rinse also the lentils and cook with marjoram until tender.

In the meantime prepare the vegetables. Wash the cabbage, remove top leaves if they are not nice and cut out the stalk carefully. Boil water in a large pot and place the cabbage in it. Cook the cabbage covered for about 10-15 minutes, then remove a few top leaves and leave the cabbage for a few more minutes to easily remove the remaining leaves. Cut out any thick stem on cabbage leaves.

Peel, wash and finely chop the onion, then fry in a pan with oil, allspice berries and bay leaves. Wash sweet and chili peppers, get seeds out, cut all peppers into small cubes and add them to the pan with onions, allspice berries and bay leaves. Peel the carrots, parsley and celeriac, rinse them and grate with a large hole grater. Then place them also in the pan.

When the vegetables are tender, remove bay leaves and allspice berries, then place them in a large bowl, add rice, lentils and all spices, garlic, chopped parsley and stir everything thoroughly. You can also add soy sauce.

Place the stuffing on the center of the cabbage leaves, fold in the sides and roll thoroughly up, so that the filling does not get outside during cooking with the tomato sauce. Place the cabbage rolls seam side down in a bowl.

Tomato sauce

Wash the tomatoes thoroughly, cut them into quarters and put in a large pot. Add the tomato puree and (optional) the tapioca flour (if you want the sauce to be more thick) and blend thoroughly. Peel, wash and chop the garlic cloves and add to the pot. Also, finely chop the basil leaves and lovage sprigs, then place them in the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Boil the tomato sauce for a few minutes on low heat and stir from time to time to thicken nicely.

Put some cabbage rolls in the pot with the sauce and keep the rest of them in the fridge. Cook them on a low heat until the cabbage is tender.

Serve the cabbage rolls with bread or potato purée and chopped dill.