Veggie Packed Cabbage Rolls with Quick Tomato Sauce

1

Heat a large heavy bottom saucepan and add the 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 chopped onion and 2 chopped cloves of garlic. Cook until the onion softens, about 3-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Reduce heat to low, and cover. Let the sauce simmer as you prepare the cabbage leaves and filling. (approximately 20 minutes)

2

Fill a separate large pan with water and bring it to a boil. Remove all torn or ragged outer leaves from the cabbage. Use a paring knife to cut the Cabbage into fourths through the core. Cut each fourth at an angle around the core and remove as much of it as you can. Gently pull whole leaves from the cabbage until you have 10-12 whole cabbage leaves. Gently add these to the boiling water. When the leaves are bright green remove them from the water with a slotted spoon. Set aside while you prepare the ground beef and rice mixture.

3

Heat a skillet on over medium heat with leftover olive oil. Sauté 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, paprika, caraway and the ground beef together until browned. Add the zucchini, mushrooms and cooked rice to the mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4

Now you are ready to assemble. Pre-heat oven to 375F. Put a cabbage leaf on your work surface with the concave side up with the stem end toward you. Trim away the rough stem part and place about 1/4- 1/3 cup of the ground beef and rice mixture near the stem end. Fold the centre up over the filling and then fold each of the sides toward the middle. Roll up like a burrito. Repeat with the remaining leaves.

5

Spread half of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a large Dutch oven or deep baking dish. Place each cabbage roll, seam-side down, on top of the sauce in a single layer. Spread the remaining sauce over the rolls. Bake for 30 minutes until bubbling.

6

To serve, place two cabbage rolls on a plate and cover with extra sauce from your pan and top with sour cream, freshly ground pepper and chopped dill.

7

Substitutions: Substitute the ground beef for 1.5 cups of cooked lentils to avoid soy or meat. Substitute 1.5 cups of white rice with 1.5 cups of bulgur, brown rice or barley. Instead of sour cream feel free to substitute cashew sour cream.