Yields approx. 12-15 rolls
½ c. pearled Barley cooked in 1c. water….cook and set aside to cool
½ c. short grain brown rice cooked in 1 c. water….cook and set aside to cool
1 Yellow Onion Small Dice w/ 1 T. Canola Oil & ½ tsp. natural sugar
3 cloves Garlic minced
1 T. Oil for cooking the carrots, celery & garlic
½ large Carrot small dice
½ stalk Celery, small dice
8oz. roughly crumbled Tempeh w. 2 T. Canola Oil
1 tsp. Dry Ground Sage
½ tsp. fennel seed
2T. Tamari or Shoyu
1 Veggie Burger (I use Garden Burger’s Veggie Medley)
¾ - 1 jar of simple tomato sauce
½ - ¾ can Diced Tomatoes
1 T. Dry Parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste
- For reference purposes: T = Tablespoon , tsp. = teaspoon, c = Cup…Canola oil is good, grape-seed oil is better, but Olive Oil is not recommended. Salt & Pepper to taste relies on the adage that it’s easy to add ingredients, but difficult to take away. So, add salt and then taste. If it doesn’t meet your tastes, then add a little more salt, until it meets with your approval.
- I cook everything individually in order to retain individual flavors. It might be laborious while you’re doing it, but it pays off in the end.
- Heat the Oil before adding the diced yellow onion, and cook over a medium-low heat for about 5 minutes before adding the sugar and pinch in some salt. Caramelizing onions should take about 30 minutes on a low heat, and it’s better to have a frying pan with a wide surface area. Let the onions take their time cooking since it takes time for the sugars in the onion to leech out and caramelize. Check often to make sure the onions aren’t burning.
- When the onions are finished, I like to spoon them into a colander or strainer so as to drain off excess oil. Set aside while you cook the remaining ingredients.
- Wipe clean the pan you cooked the onions in. It doesn’t have to be washed clean, but just enough so that there are no remaining food particles that will burn/smoke/pollute the flavors.
- Heat the 2 T. Oil before adding the 8 oz. tempeh. Cook the tempeh to coat with oil, add the sage and fennel seed, stir to coat and let cook for a minute. Add the tamari and stir to coat, cooking for another 5 minutes. Scrape this mixture into a bowl and set aside.
- Cook the veggie burger in a toaster oven or oven for about 12-15 minutes. When finished cooking, let it cool for about 10 minutes before cutting up into a medium dice. Add to the rest of the mixture.
- Again, wipe clean the cooking pan. Heat 1 T. oil and add the diced carrot and celery. Cook for 1-2 minutes before adding the minced garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, cook another 2-3 minutes until the veggies are soft.
- Now, combine all the ingredients (including the grains of Barley and Rice that you cooked in the beginning) into a bowl and mix together well.
- Taste and add salt and/or pepper as needed.
- Now you have the stuffing, set this aside and let it cool.
- Bring a big pot of water to a boil.
- Remove the first two leaves of the cabbage if they’re looking not to fresh. Cut around the stem of the cabbage with a pairing knife so the leaves will separate.
- Put the head of cabbage into the boiling water. (Be careful of water displacement.)
- The cabbage leaves will start to separate as they cook. Remove the leaves into a bowl of cold water to stop the leaves from cooking.
- So, you’re left with a mixture of stuffing and cooked cabbage leaves. Each leaf should hold about ¼ - 1/3 cup of stuffing.
- Put the stuffing in the middle of the cabbage leaf, tuck the ends in and roll up.
- Put some of the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan that you use. Place all of the rolls into a large casserole dish (covered with foil), crock pot, or large pot with a lid. Pour the remaining tomatoes over the cabbage rolls. Cover and cook on the stove top on low-medium heat, or covered and in the oven at 350 for about 30-45 minutes.
- Enjoy!
