Vegetarian cabbage rolls

Apparently my cabbage rolls with groats got a mixed reception. Apparently some people expected them to be meatless. Apparently meatless cabbage rolls are edible. Apparently. Actually, that “apparently” is already out of date. Why?

Because I made vegetarian cabbage rolls with barley and vegetables. Yes, this is the very recipe where you can read about them. And most importantly, they really are edible. Quite decent, in fact, if I do say so myself. No meat, of course, but I’d still count them among the gołąbki, those “little pigeons”.

So how did they end up on my table today? Quite by accident, as things generally do around here.

Today I set off for Konstancin for a little brine inhalation at the graduation tower. The weather was good and, as usual, I meant to cycle (I even got myself out the door), but after the bath I’d given my bike yesterday, it started making strange noises about a kilometre in. Very strange ones. It does that, usually after a bath. So if you’re thinking of washing your bike, give it a miss. Mine will probably be back to normal tomorrow, but today I had to turn back.

So I drove to Konstancin with a completely different plan from the one I’d started with. Namely, to go to the tower. As it turned out, that last-minute plan, born of circumstance, took me further than I’d expected.

I reached Konstancin and there was a sight I’d never seen there before. An organic market, a vegetable market, something along those lines. I’m used to the breakfast markets a stone’s throw from here. But it was nearly 16.00 and this didn’t look like a breakfast market. No idea how or why it had sprung up there, but I decided to take a look.

I spotted kale – yes, the famous kale you can use to make the world’s best kale burgers. But something else caught my eye. A small, unassuming Savoy cabbage, organic to boot. And quite alone. There it sat on a stall, wedged between ordinary cabbages and beetroot. But I was supposed to be going to the tower. Now, the tower is a bit like a catwalk… for pensioners. And you’d look a bit daft turning up on it with a cabbage.

At the tower, though, my thoughts kept returning to the cabbage, and when I came out I bought it. The kale too, as it happens, and two gigantic organic tomatoes. Interestingly enough, I didn’t spend a fortune on the lot. So it definitely wasn’t a breakfast market.

Naturally, when I thought about that cabbage I had just one thing in mind: cabbage rolls. But how do you make cabbage rolls when you’ve got no meat (fresh mince is still pretty hard to buy on a Sunday, even these days)? Well, I found out, and I recommend you acquaint yourselves with this secret, if fairly primitive, piece of knowledge too.

There must be more than one way to make vegetarian, even almost vegan, cabbage rolls. My recipe is simple and gives you mildly spicy rolls with a citrusy aroma and a hint of the East (all thanks to the coriander and Sichuan pepper). Delicious, even without meat (although I do rather miss it ;).

At a glance: 

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Cooking time: 90 minutes

Serves: 10

Calories: there are calories, but only if a vegetarian eats them. Carnivores don’t feel a thing 😉

Ingredients for meatless cabbage rolls:

• 1 small Savoy cabbage
• 1 boil-in-the-bag portion of barley groats
• 2 large tomatoes (organic ones are best)
• 1 red onion
• 4 shallots
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 small head of broccoli
• 3 hot chillies (fresh)
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• 6 decagrams Parmesan (without the Parmesan, this dish will be vegan)
• a few coriander seeds
• a teaspoon of sugar
• Sichuan pepper
• ground black pepper
• dark soy sauce
• salt
• olive oil

Recipe for cabbage rolls with barley, tomatoes, pepper, broccoli and onion:

All in all, it’s not difficult, but it does take a little time.

I pulled the leaves off the cabbage, taking care not to tear them. I washed them thoroughly (my cabbage was organic, so I even found a little bug and the inside wasn’t particularly clean) and put them in a large pot. I poured about 2 litres of boiling water over them and left them for 15 minutes.

I cooked the barley according to the instructions: I dropped the bag into boiling water for 15 minutes. I drained it and tipped the barley into a deep bowl.

I peeled the vegetables and cut them into small pieces.

I heated olive oil in a frying pan and started by frying the onion, shallots and chilli. I sprinkled them with a teaspoon of sugar and stirred. After about 5 minutes I added the finely chopped red pepper. I added two tablespoons of soy sauce and stirred.

After another 3 minutes I added the chopped tomatoes (which I’d peeled first). I gave it all a good stir. After 5 minutes I added the broccoli florets, which I’d blanched beforehand.

As for the broccoli, pretty much only the “soft” parts went into the pan. I didn’t want to bite into tough stalks in the finished rolls.

I stirred everything thoroughly and seasoned it with ground black pepper, Sichuan pepper, a few coriander seeds crushed between my fingers and, of course, salt. I added 2 tablespoons of tomato purée, stirred and cooked it over low heat until the water had evaporated.

After about 20 minutes, when the vegetables were cooking in a fairly thick sauce, I turned off the “flame” and let them cool a little.

I tipped the cooled vegetables into the bowl with the barley and mixed everything well. I added the grated Parmesan and mixed again. Filling done (in the pictures below you can see it in the frying pan and then sprinkled with Parmesan).

I drained the Savoy cabbage leaves. I put them in a plastic container to keep them handy while I wrapped my little pigeons. I put about a tablespoon of filling on each small leaf and rolled it up. Each finished roll went straight into the pot, so they’d hold each other in place as they cooked.

Once I’d made about 20 rolls, I poured 3 tablespoons of olive oil into the pot. I added previously boiled water, still warm, until it came 3/4 of the way up the rolls (it shouldn’t cover them), and set them to cook over low heat. After roughly 1.5 hours the dish is ready. You can serve it with potatoes for a vegetarian dinner or, the way I like all cabbage rolls best, with good bread spread with butter. Enjoy!