It’s the end of September and it’s the time of year when I try to hold on to the summer for as long as possible. I use every sunny moment to put on a pair of shorts and have a cold drink. But truth is, this time of year isn’t just sunny so I’ve been drinking tea, fighting off colds, and making nice hot dishes to warm me up.
Last week, our weekly produce box included a head of napa cabbage. After having it lying around not knowing what to do (and not exactly inspired by the prospects of cole slaw), I decided I would just go for it and make some cabbage rolls. This was a really spontaneous thing, so I’m amazed I even took some pictures — thanks Instagram.
The measurements are a bit iffy, but they’re not really important either so I would just take this as a base line, but feel free to improvise beyond this.
A fun thing about this dish is that it’s vegan and gluten-free but totally counts as a fully comprehensive meal and I wasn’t even thinking about that while cooking.
The interesting component of my cabbage rolls is definitely and not surprisingly the filling, as there’s only so much you can do to elevate a cabbage leaf… I started off by cooking some lentils. Then I decided to make some scrambled tofu seasoned with sriracha sauce. I added some carrots and leftover spinach and then just combined everything.
Prepping the cabbage leaves was easier than anticipated after I had cut out the stem. I just boiled some water and cooked 4 or 5 leaves at a time for about 2 minutes.
Filling and rolling was messy but not hard. Just think of how you’d roll a burrito.
Finally, this was actually better the next day!!
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 head napa cabbage
- 1 cup lentils
- 1 block tofu
- 2 tbsp sriracha
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 cup grated carrots
- 1/2 cup spinach
- Salt
- 1 cup tomato sauce
How to:
- Pour lentils with a bit of salt into a small pot and cover with water (about an inch higher than the lentils). Cover the pot, bring the water to a boil, and cook for about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the lentils standing covered.
- Meanwhile, take out the tofu and drain all water. Place the tofu on a paper towel and cover with a paper towel and put something heavy-ish on top. This way you can try to get rid of more water.
- While the lentils are cooking and the tofu is draining, prepare the cabbage: First cut out the stem, so that the leaves are no longer connected. In a large pot, boil some water. Peel off 4-5 leaves depending on their size and place them in the water. Remove them after 2 minutes and set them aside. Repeat with the entire cabbage, stopping once the leaves get to small. I managed to make 18 rolls, although some of them were quite small.
- Next, make the tofu: Heat some oil in a pan. Take a fork and mash the drained tofu. Add the tofu to the pan along with the sriracha, turmeric, minced garlic, and ginger. Once the water seems to have mostly evaporated, add the carrots, spinach, and anything else you want. (I chopped up the remaining cabbage and threw it in.) Finally, stir in the lentils and cook until the mixture is as dry as possible.
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C).
- To make the rolls, take a cabbage leaf and put a few tablespoons of filling on the bottom edge. Encase the filling by folding the thick stem part over itself and then folding in the right and left sides. Then roll up the leaf and place in a casserole pan. Repeat with all of the leaves. Store any remaining filling in the fridge and eat it for another meal.
- Thin out the tomato sauce if it is very thick. Pour it evenly over the cabbage rolls. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve with rice or just alone. Again, these were actually even better on day 2, so you could reheat them and eat them the next day.