Winter time is oven time, right? At least for me it is, because using the oven during Italian summer is not the smartest thing to do. That’s why during the winter months I tend to cook in the oven as much as possible. Sometimes it requires some creativity to come up with new tasty vegan dishes. But from time to time it happens that I become the inspiration for myself. Just like it happened this time for these vegan savoy cabbage rolls. Seems confusing? Well, let me explain…
To explain how I came up with this recipe I need to give a quick insight on me. You see, I’m a person who can’t stand too hot summers and too cold winters. I like something in the middle, like autumn, for example. But, of course, it’s not up to me to change the weather. So during the cold winter months I need to find a solution for me to get warm. And I have found it! The best way, at least for me, to get warm is not just to cover myself with a warm blanket. But literally to wrap myself in it. So, in short, during winter months I turn into a human-blanket roll! And this is how one day an idea of creating vegan savoy cabbage rolls came in my mind.
Why choose savoy cabbage instead of white cabbage
In Latvia typically cabbage rolls are filled with meat and rice. For a vegan that’s definitely not an option. So I decided first to make a recipe that includes stuffing that is suitable for vegans. And second – to use a cabbage that I had never used before. The savoy cabbage. To be honest, once I tried to make this recipe also with the white cabbage. But I must say that I definitely prefer it with the savoy cabbage. Why? Because in comparison to savoy cabbage the white cabbage has a slightly sweet flavor. And I find it a bit disturbing with the stuffing that contains garlic. The savoy cabbage instead doesn’t have a sweet note. And that’s why it combines perfectly with the versatile flavor of the stuffing. But, of course, feel free to experiment with both types of cabbage, if the savoy cabbage is hard to find.
Savoy cabbage is perfect to be used in recipes where you need that the cabbage leaves maintain their form. Besides that, savoy cabbage leaves are much easier to be separated one from another and from the stalk. That’s because they are more flexible and don’t tend to break easily like it happens with the white cabbage. From the nutritional point of view, savoy cabbage is definitely a dietary product. It also contains a decent amount of vitamin C. The vitamin that we all definitely need during cold winter months! Also Specky thinks that savoy cabbage is useful… Useful for resting his fluffy paws on it!
Stuffing ingredients for the vegan savoy cabbage rolls
For the stuffing I chose very simple ingredients that can be easily found in any food store. Those are carrots, tomatoes, leek, garlic, chickpeas and lemon. The amount of garlic, as always, is up to you. I’d definitely suggest you to use it. Because it gives a mouth-watering aroma to the vegan savoy cabbage rolls. But if you’re not a big fan of garlic, simply reduce a bit the amount. Just don’t cut it out completely. What regards the lemon juice – it is completely optional. I like the rolls in both ways – with and without the lemon juice. If you want extra freshness and extra aroma, add a few drops on your just-out-of-the oven vegan savoy cabbage rolls.
Also you feel the need for some tasty oven-cooked food that warms you up during the cold winter months? Then I really suggest you to try these vegan savoy cabbage rolls that are:
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easy to make
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easy to digest
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deliciously aromatic
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juicy
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low-fat
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flavorful
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and simply yummy!
Let me know, if you try this recipe! Leave a comment or even more – make Specky happy! Snap a picture of your masterpiece and post it on Instagram or Facebook by tagging @bunnymommycooks. And feel free to let your animal family members join in the picture!
| Prep Time | 30 min |
| Cook Time | 20 min |
| Servings |
rolls
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- 10 savoy cabbage leaves
- 3 medium size carrots (~300 g)
- 1 red bell pepper (~300 g; the bell pepper can also be in a different color)
- 1 tomato (or 8 cherry tomatoes)
- 1 medium size leek (~150 g)
- 450 g of canned or cooked chickpeas
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (or any other oil that you prefer)
- juice from half lemon (optional)
Ingredients
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- before cutting the vegetables, put a large pot full of water to boil – this water will be necessary to boil the savoy cabbage leaves. While the water is getting hot, cut tomato or cherry tomatoes and bell pepper in small pieces. Cut leek in slices by afterwards separating the layers with your fingers. Peel the carrots and grate them in short thin strips. Put the vegetables in another pot, add ~400 ml of water and cook for 15 minutes;
- while the vegetables are cooking, separate the savoy cabbage leaves from the stalk and put them in the boiling water that you started to heat up in the beginning for 3 – 5 minutes. The boiling time depends on the size of the leaves. Please, pay attention to the fact that the water must be boiling in order to make the leaves soft. Be aware also of the fact that most probably it won’t be possible to boil all 10 leaves at the same time, so the boiling will need to be done in turns by boiling 2 – 4 leaves each time;
- when all the leaves are boiled, let them cool down a bit in a bowl or a plate. While the leaves are cooling down, put the chickpeas in the food processor and blend them into small pieces. Then drain the cooked vegetables (important! - do not skip this step, otherwise the stuffing will be too liquid) and add them to the blended chickpeas in the food processor. Blend everything together until you get a mixture that is evenly mixed and without big pieces of ingredients;
- transfer the mixture to a bowl, add freshly pressed or grated garlic and mix everything with a spoon;
- heat up the oven to 180°C/350°F and prepare the baking dish in which you plan to cook the savoy cabbage rolls. In case your baking dish tends to burn the food or it makes the food stick to its bottom, line the baking dish with parchment paper;
- start making the rolls by taking a savoy cabbage leaf, laying it flat and placing ~2 tablespoons of stuffing in the center of the lower part of the leaf (the amount of the stuffing depends on the size of the leaf, so to understand how much stuffing you should put in every leaf, make sure that once you start to roll the leaf, the stuffing doesn’t come out). Fold in the sides and roll the leaf up. Place the roll in the baking dish so that the ending part of the leaf faces down. Repeat with the remaining savoy cabbage leaves;
- when all the savoy cabbage leaves are rolled and placed in the baking dish, drizzle 2 tablespoons of oil over the rolls and put the baking dish in the middle compartment of the preheated oven for 20 minutes. If after 20 minutes there’s still no brown spot on the rolls, leave them in the oven for some extra minutes until in some places the rolls start to get some brown spots;
- if desired, before serving sprinkle some lemon juice over the rolls to add an additional note of freshness.
Are the cabbage rolls good with peanut sauce?
Hi Ilmu, when I make these cabbage rolls I don’t use any sauce because they are already quite juicy. But in general if you like peanut sauce, feel free to try the rolls with it 🙂