Vegetarian Sarmale Romanian Cabbage Rolls Recipes

HEALTHY VEGETARIAN QUINOA CABBAGE ROLLS

Steps:

• 1. Fill a large pot with water. Core the cabbage as deeply as possible. Bring the water to a boil and add the cabbage then simmer for several minutes to loosen the outer leaves of the cabbage.
• 2. Lightly oil a 13x9" casserole dish and set aside. Now prepare your sauce.
• 3. Saute the onion in some butter or oil until transparent. Add the 5 oz. of kale. It will break down to nearly nothing, but the flavor will be there.
• 4. Add the oregano and spaghetti sauce. Let this simmer for a 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cooked quinoa, tomato paste, coconut milk, parsley, salt and pepper. Simmer a few more moments. Taste. Always taste to adjust seasonings.
• 5. Now check the cabbage, if the outer leaves are soft take the cabbage out of the pot and removed the bad leaves and recycle them. Remove what leaves you can from the cabbage. If the leaves under the ones you removed are stiff put the cabbage back into the water. Let the cabbage simmer for a little while longer. Remove the rib from the center of the cabbage leaf being careful not to cut right through. It takes a little practice but once you get the hang of it it's easy.
• 6. Scoop out a healthy tablespoon of the filling on to one of the cabbage leaves. You will note that the cabbage leaves tend to fold in on themselves. Put the filling into the leaf just above where you took out the rib. Fold the end away from you over the filling, then fold the sides together, then roll it up and set seam side down into your baking dish.
• 7. I got 18 rolls out of this recipe. Spread some more spaghetti sauce over the rolls (see photo) and add a little more salt and pepper on top.
• 8. Bake in a 350'F oven for about 30 minutes. I used my convection toaster oven so it took about 35 minutes. In any case make sure the rolls are heated through and the sauce is bubbly.
• 9. Serve warm with some sour cream if you like.
• 10. Enjoy!

SARMALE

Steps:

• Fry onions in oil with paprika. Add washed rice. Then add meat but don't cook it just mix it with the hot onions and rice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let rest while preparing the cabbage.
• In the meantime boil the cabbage. Do not overcook. Then rinse with cold water.
• For larger sheets remove ribs. Place first layer of sauerkraut in pot then form the cabbage rolls like so:
• Cabbage leaf sits in the palm, place a teaspoon (or more depending on how big your leaf is) of.
• cabbage mixture and tuck the ends then roll like a tortilla. After you.
• wrap stuffed cabbage arrange in pan, side by side. Over the first.
• layer of rolls sprinkle more sauerkraut, sprinkle a few peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, and a sprig of fresh dill. Then arrange another layer, and repeat. Add tomato juice over all the rolls and make sure it is well covered.
• I make them in the crock pot. You can make them in a roman clay dish in the oven too. Or you can make in a stockpot on the stove. All of these at low heat for 4-6 hours.

VEGETARIAN SARMALE (ROMANIAN CABBAGE ROLLS)

Steps:

• Filling: Chop 4 of the onions and grate one of the carrots. Saute them for a couple of minutes with about 2 Tbsp oil. Add the rice and continue to saute them for 10 minutes add a little water, but only a small amount to keep it from sticking.
• Add the tomato paste, the walnuts, and the granulated gluten. Season it with salt, pepper, a dash of soy sauce, and other seasonings you may want. Heat for a minute or two and then turn off the stove and let cool down a little.
• Remove the hard core of the cabbage. Ceave the cabbage in a bowl/pot with hot water and salt for 5-10 minutes (until the leaves can be removed easily, but it shouldn not stay too long because the leaves will be easily broken).
• Drain the cabbage and wait for it to cool off until you can work with it. Remove the spine from each leaf (leaving two halves with each leaf about the size of your hand). From the cabbage around 20 medium leaves should result. Some leaves may rip, but don't use those to add filling to, instead set aside.
• Chop the remaining onion and carrot, and the extra cabbage leaves that had been set aside because they had torn. Saute them in a large pot with a little oil. Add the tomato sauce and mix well. Put 2-3 bay leaves over this mixture. Turn off the heat and set aside (this is not the filling, but where the cabbage rolls will later be placed).
• On every cabbage leaf place about 1 Tbsp of filling (the first mixture sauteed and put aside from direction steps 1 and 2) and roll. Roll by folding one of the width sides over the filling and then roll the length of it. One side should be still open, stuff that side inside with your finger to close. If there is too much filling to stuff the opened side inside then you can remove a little bit of the filling.
• In the large pot with the other sauteed vegetables lay down the cabbage rolls in a circle. Don't have them touching the sides of the pot. Put the heart of the cabbage or more chopped cabbage in the center of the pot with the cabbage rolls around it. The cabbage in the middle is there to keep the cabbage rolls in place while boiling. Once a circle has been made in the pot you can put more cabbage rolls on top of the last ones making another circle, etc.
• Boil enough water in another pot to cover the cabbage rolls. Add the lemon juice to the water if you want to add a little sour taste to them. Add the boiling water and lemon juice to the pot with the samales and make sure the samales are covered by the water. Place a large soup plate over them that covers them all and keeps them in place in the pot.
• Cook them on a low flame for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours and add water if necessary.