Cabbage leaves are nature’s own wrap and are ideal for making some seriously appetizing appetizers. There are so many variations of cabbage rolls but so long as you have a flavourful filling wrapped up in a cabbage leaf, you’re well on your way to serving a successful starter.
You can make just about any filling for your stuffed cabbage rolls, but for this recipe I’ve chosen to go with a tasty vegetarian version. The process of wrapping the stuffing in the leaves is a bit fiddly at first, but after one or two tries you should get the hang of it. Happy munching.
Serve 8-10
Ingredients
- 10 large cabbage leaves (1 per wrap as this recipe caters for 10, but you might want to have one or two extra leaves just in case you tear one while wrapping your stuffing)
- 200g of button mushrooms, sliced
- 3 spring onion stalks, finely sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 1 Tbsp of parsley, chopped
- 1 Tbsp of fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 fresh lemon, juiced
- 150g purple cabbage, shredded
- 150g beetroot, grated
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, grated
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC while you prepare your veggies.
- Slice the mushrooms and spring onion, grate the beetroot and carrot and shred the red cabbage. (You can usually find pre-shredded red cabbage at your local supermarket if you want to save some time.)
- Prepare the herbs, garlic, lemon juice and cucumber and set to one side.
- Heat some olive oil in a pan over a low-medium heat and sauté the garlic, spring onion and mushrooms.
- Gradually add in the red cabbage, carrot and beetroot and allow to simmer until the mixture softens (about 5 minutes). Stir often, adding water if the mix starts sticking to the pan.
- Blanch the cabbage leaves in a pot of boiling salted water for 2 to 3 minutes, drain and lay out on a board.
- Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of veggie mixture into the centre of each leaf and season each with freshly chopped herbs.
- Roll up each leaf making sure that no mixture is spilling out and place each roll seam-side down, in a baking dish.
- Drizzle with olive oil, cover and bake for 15 minutes.
- Serve stuffed cabbage rolls with a dipping sauce of your choice and enjoy.
