Vegan Cabbage Rolls with Brown Rice & Mushrooms

Yield: 14 cabbage rolls or 4 servings / Level: Intermediate

Prep Time: 30 mins / Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins / Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins

Plant-based cabbage rolls stuffed with mushrooms and sweet chewy currants bursting with flavor from Chardonnay wine and savory coconut aminos. This dish is light, fresh and nourishing. For extra protein, add in one of your favorites such as beyond meat or lentils!

Cabbage roll Ingredients:

• 1 medium head of cabbage

• 1 cup brown rice and 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil, cook rice according to the package directions.

• 1/4 cup dried currants

• 1/4 cup wine, I used Chardonnay however I think a dry red wine would also be excellent.

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 medium red onion

• 8 ounces of button mushrooms, stems removed and set aside for the tomato sauce.

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 Tbsp dried rosemary

• 1 Tbsp dried sage

• 1 Tbsp coconut aminos

• 5 Cherry tomatoes

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Tomato Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• Mushroom stems

• 1/2 red onion

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 cup wine, the same wine you used for the currants.

• Cook the brown rice with a tsp of extra virgin olive oil. Cook according to package directions. It should be a ratio of 2:1 (2 parts water, 1 part rice), bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

• Cut the root out of the cabbage using a pairing knife.

• Place cabbage head into the boiling water. I would recommend using a pot large enough to submerge the entire head of cabbage. My pot wasn’t big enough so I had to keep turning it to ensure all sides would cook.

• Remove cabbage leaves with tongs as they become soft and easily removable.

• Place cabbage leaves on a sheet pan lined with a kitchen towel to absorb the excess water.

• Place your dried currants and 1/4 cup white wine into a small bowl, set aside to allow currants to plump up.

• While the rice is cooking and in between removing cabbage leaves, we can start prepping to sauté veggies for the filling.

• Remove stems from mushroom caps.

• Dice the mushrooms stems and half an onion, set aside (this will be used for the tomato sauce).

• Place olive oil in a sauté pan set to medium high heat.

• Dice the mushroom caps and the other onion half, add to the pan and sauté for about 5-10 mins.

• Add the 4 cloves minced garlic, rosemary, sage and sauté for another minute.

• Add 1 Tbsp coconut aminos and salt and pepper to taste.

• Continue to cook filling for about 5 mins.

• At this point you should have pulled as many large cabbage leaves off as you can (I got 14 leaves). You will be left with the small inside core of the cabbage, dice this up and store in the refrigerator up to 6 days — great for a stir fry! or you can freeze it for later use.

• Set all your cabbage leaves aside, we will use these once our filling is complete.

Start the tomato sauce:

• In another pan (I used the cabbage pot for this since I was completely done with pulling cabbage leaves at this point, no need to dirty more pots and pans) heat 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.

• Add mushroom stems, diced onion, and 1 minced garlic clove and sauté until onions become soft, about 5 minutes.

• Add the can of crushed tomatoes and 1/2 cup of wine to the pot and let simmer for about 15-30 minutes or until you finish the cabbage rolls.

Back to the filling:

• Add the wine soaked currants to the filling and cook until all the liquid has evaporated.

• Add in a few diced cherry tomatoes to the filling. I used about 5 cherry tomatoes.

• Mix your filling and cooked brown rice together.

• Preheat your oven to 350°F.

• Cut the hard stem out of each cabbage leaf so they are easier to roll.

• Build your rolling station with your prepped cabbage leaves and filling.

• Place a spoonful of filling onto the cabbage leaf and roll like you would a burrito.

• Once all your cabbage rolls are rolled, your tomato sauce should be finished.

• Place tomato sauce into a food processor and blend until smooth. This step is optional if you don’t mind a chunky sauce.

• Spread about half of the sauce onto the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

• Place cabbage rolls in the pan and cover with the remaining tomato sauce.

• My tomato sauce got really thick so I added a splash of water to the bottom of the pan just to ensure things would steam and not burn to the bottom. If your sauce is thinner than mine, you can skip this step.

• Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in a 350°F oven for about 45 minutes.

• Pull out of the oven and garnish with chopped parsley.

Enjoy!