Vegan "Ground Beef" Cabbage Rolls
Hello lovelies! I like to consider this one of my best vegan recipes and it certainly ranks as one of my top 3 favourites. There are quite a few steps involved, so it's not a super quick dish to prepare, but it is not difficult. I've been extremely explicit with the directions and even have taken pictures of each step so you can follow along to make sure you are doing each step correctly.
A significant portion of the filling is the "ground beef" tofu. I prepare this tofu the exact same way I prepare the tofu in my vegan bolognese sauce, crumbled and mixed with soy sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast.
Bake the tofu at 450 C until it's a dark golden brown colour and is no longer spongy. Even extra firm tofu has quite a bit of water in it so once it has been baked it will have shrunk to about half the size.
Chop your portobello mushrooms into small pieces. Try your best to make them equal in size but they don't have to be perfect. Try your best not to have large chunks - I think smaller pieces create a more realistic simulation of beef.
Sauté your mushrooms with the diced onion and the crushed garlic until it is cooked. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the filling ingredients; the tofu, cooked wild rice, spices, and chia seeds. I add chia seeds to help the filling stay together once it is in the cabbage roll, and it seems to work fairly well. The filling doesn't stay together as well as beef does, but we are working with plant-based ingredients here!
When separating the cabbage leaves, be very careful and don't try to remove them too quickly. Be gentle or they will rip (if they do end up ripping it is not the end of the world, but it's nice when the leaves are intact). Boil the cabbage leaves in a large pot of water for a couple minutes. My pot allowed me to boil three leaves at a time.
Once the leaves have been cooked, spread some prepared sauce on the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish. Take a cabbage leaf, spoon 2-3 tbsp of filling in the centre, fold the edges in and roll. Place the cabbage rolls in the dish with the seam facing down into the sauce.
Once all of the rolls are in the dish, cover with the remainder of the sauce and bake at 350 C for 1 hour. When finished, let cool for about 5 minutes and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.
I ate mine with a green salad made with lettuce from the garden. I recommend making some garlic bread to eat with the cabbage rolls as well. Now it's time to get cooking and enjoy your delicious plant-based meal!
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*serves 4
Ingredients:
8 green cabbage leaves
Rice:
1/2 cup wild rice mix, uncooked
1 cup vegetable broth
Tofu:
_grams extra firm tofu
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Mushroom Mixture:
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups Portobello mushrooms, chopped finely
1/2 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup cashew milk
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
Tomato Sauce:
2 cups crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp coconut sugar
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Rice:
Cook wild rice in vegetable stock and set aside.
Tofu:
Preheat oven to 450.
Crumble the tofu into a medium bowl and mix with the soy sauce, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Spread the tofu mixture on a baking sheet that has been prepared with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450, mix the tofu around, change the oven setting to broil and put the tofu back in for another 2 minutes.
The tofu should be a golden brown colour and crispy when finished.
Filling:
Heat olive oil over medium heat in non-stick skillet and add mushrooms, onion, and garlic. Sauté for 6-7 minutes or until onions are translucent. Turn off heat and add cooked rice, baked tofu, cashew milk, chia seeds, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Mix so everything is evenly combined and set aside.
Tomato Sauce:
Combine crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, coconut sugar, salt, and pepper in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
Cabbage Rolls:
Preheat oven to 350.
Bring large pot of water boil and boil cabbage leaves for 2 minutes, drain and set aside. I boiled mine 3 at a time, placing the boiled leaves on a wire rack with a kitchen cloth placed beneath to absorb the water that drips from the leaves.
Spread about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9x9 inch baking dish.
Place 3-4 tbsp of filling mixture in centre of cabbage leaf and roll up, tucking the ends in and placing in the baking dish with the seam facing down. Continue until all leaves have been used up. Spread the rest of the tomato sauce over top of the cabbage rolls and bake for 1 hour at 350° C.
Serve with chopped fresh parsley on top. Enjoy!
