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many golden vegan stuffed cabbage rolls in a baking dish.
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4.49 from 43 votes

Vegan Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Delicious and satisfying vegan cabbage rolls filled with amaranth, sweet potatoes, lots of spices and seeds.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour 50 minutes
Course: Vegan Recipes
Cuisine: Romanian
Servings: 6
Calories: 420kcal
Author: Adina

Ingredients

  • 3.3 lbs head of sauerkraut/fermented cabbage
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
  • 2 onions
  • 1 lb sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup amaranth or bulgur, millet, couscous – See note
  • 2 cups (scant) good-quality vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • chili flakes to taste
  • ¼ cup sesame seeds
  • ¼ cup sunflower seeds
  • a small bunch of parsley
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

Sauerkraut:

  • Prepare sauerkraut: Remove the core of the sauerkraut head. Release the leaves and place them in a large bowl filled with cold water. Let soak for one hour.

Filling:

  • In the meantime prepare the filling.
  • Saute: Chop the onions finely. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan and cook the onions until translucent.
  • Add sweet potatoes: In the meantime, peel and roughly grate the sweet potatoes. Add them to the onions and continue cooking for a further two minutes.
  • Cook grains: Wash the amaranth in a very fine mesh sieve and add it to the pan. Add the vegetable broth, cover the pan and cook the amaranth according to the packet's instructions, in my case 20 minutes. Use as much broth as required by the amaranth's packet instructions, but keep in mind that the liquid should be absorbed entirely in the end. If that is not the case, drain the cooked amaranth very well.
  • Add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, chili flakes to taste, sesame, and sunflower seeds. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped parsley.

Cabbage rolls:

  • Prepare cabbage leaves: Drain the cabbage/sauerkraut. Separate the leaves and rinse them well.
    Place them on a chopping board, one at a time, and remove the lower part of the leaf, where the stem is very thick. Next, cut the larger leaves into halves, in the middle where the thick stem is. Discard the thick stem but only in the case of the larger leaves that you split in half.
    Leave the smaller leaves whole and cut the thick stem as well as possible to make the leaves easy to roll.
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Make rolls: Place one cabbage leaf on the working surface, place a little filling more or less in the middle of the leaf. Fold the lower part of the leaf over, then one side of the leaf over the filling, then the other side of the leaf. Roll the leaf to form the cabbage roll and tuck in the open end of the leaf.
    If some of the leaves are too small, you can build a cabbage roll from two leaves, nicely arranged on top of each other.
  • Chop the middle of the cabbage (where the leaves are too small to use for rolls) and all leftover pieces of cabbage into fine strips. Place the chopped cabbage in an even layer on the bottom of a casserole dish large enough to hold all the rolls tightly but in a single layer.
  • Assemble: Arrange the cabbage rolls in the dish in a tight, single layer. Pour hot water over the rolls, just as much as barely covering the rolls; they should not swim in the water.
  • Bake for about 50 minutes or until the rolls are nicely colored, and the cabbage is cooked through.

Notes

When cooking other grains, read the packet's instructions regarding the cooking time and the amount of water you need.

Nutrition

Serving: 3cabbage rolls | Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 957mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 10g