#12 The Case of Cabbage Rolls

Secret agent—vegetable bouillon powder.

• Faster and easier than making vegetable bouillon from scratch.
• Strength of bouillon increased just by adding more vegetable bouillon powder.
• Always on hand on kitchen shelf.
• Mixes with many ingredients other than water, such as diced tomatoes.

Earlier, a reader was justifiably concerned by the "salt and grime" vegetable bouillon powder can contain, and I promised to come up with an "easy, quick, and always-on-hand alternative". Ta da. Organic vegetable bouillon powder. Not trying to be smart. Compare ingredient lists.

Knorr Vegetable Instant Stock Mix
Corn syrup solids, salt, hydrolyzed soy/corn protein, monosodium glutamate, natural flavour, dried vegetables (tomatoes, onions, carrots, garlic), canola oil, tricalcium phosphate, colour, herb & spices, dried parsley, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, wheat maltodextrin, silicon dioxide, corn starch, colour and sulphites. May contain milk and eggs.

Harvest Sun Organic Vegetable Bouillon Powder
Yeast extract, sea salt, starch* (potato*, corn*), anticaking agent calcium carbonate, carrots*, leek*, non-hydrogenated palm oil*, celery*, parsley*, turmeric*, nutmeg*
*organic

And regarding salt content, the more vegetable bouillon powder in a recipe, the less salt is needed. Found a HUGE selection of organic vegetable bouillon powders at the GTA health food store I visited.

Cabbage Rolls

1 cabbage, frozen, then thawed overnight in a colander in the sink (or cored, covered in water on a rack in a huge canner, brought to a boil and boiled for 3 min., then cooled in ice water)
1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein) granules
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 rounded teaspoon (for 1 cup) vegetable bouillon powder
1 cup boiling water
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
2-1/2 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 eggs (1/2 cup egg style liquid works too)

48 oz tomato juice

chilli pepper flakes

Cut out the core of the cabbage. Peel back the outer leaves one by one, discarding the blemished ones. Cut the thick part of the central rib out of each leaf. Continue until you have 12 leaves.

In a large bowl, combine the TVP granules, ketchup, thyme, chilli powder, pepper, salt and vegetable bouillon powder. Pour on the boiling water and stir. Set aside for 15 min.
 

Sauté the onions, garlic and red pepper in the olive oil for 8-10 min., until the onions are browned, adding a little water if the vegetables get too dry.
 

Combine the onion mixture, rice, nutritional yeast and eggs with the TVP granules.
 

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
 

Spread some of the tomato juice in the bottom of a deep, 9" X 13" baking dish or a dutch oven.
 

Divide the stuffing between the cabbage leaves and roll them up. (I overlap the stem ends of each leaf where the rib's been cut out, pile my stuffing there, roll 3/4 of a turn, fold in the sides, then continue to roll.) Place the packages seam down in the baking dish.
 

Top with the rest of the tomato juice, cover and bake for 1-1/2 hours.

 

In large pasta bowls, serve the rolls covered with their sauce and sprinkled with chilli pepper flakes.

 

Serves 6.
 

♥ Becki
 

PS Try collard greens instead of cabbage. There's no need to freeze them ahead of time. There's no waste. You don't have to remove the central rib. Just blanch 12 leaves for 1 min. then plunge them into an ice-water bath to cool.

 

PPS Heavens be praised, the stuffing can also be pressed into 12 zucchinis that have been trimmed, cored from both ends with a potato peeler, leaving 1/8" walls. Cook them in the same way. Sprinkle them with paprika for that traditional cabbage-roll flavour.