Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls with no meat? Yes it’s possible and it’s delicious. Shitake mushrooms have amazing immune boosting properties – perfect for this winter weather – and hijiki or arame are seaweeds found in your health food or bulk food store that add a natural salt flavour and are loaded with minerals.

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Ingredients

2 cups water

1 cup brown rice

1 cup chopped onions

2 cloves minced garlic

6 shitake mushrooms, sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

3 medium carrots, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1/4 cup dry kiziki or arame (that has been soaked in 1 cup

water for 30 minutes)

1 tbsp grated ginter

1tsp dulse power

10 large green cabbage leaves

1/2 cup tomato sauce

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Directions

1. Bring the water to a boil. Add brown rice and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes or until done. Set aside.

2. Sauté onions, garlic cloves and shitake mushrooms in a little water and olive oil for 5 minutes.

3. Add carrots, red pepper and steam gently with the onion mixture, adding a little more water if needed.

4. Mix the rice and dry hiziki or arame (that has been soaked in 1 cup water for 30 minutes), and sautéed vegetables together in a bowl with grated ginger and dulse powder.

5. Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large pot of boiling water, blanch 10 large green cabbage leaves for 30 seconds. Drain, and immerse the leaves in a bowl of cold water until cooled. Remove and pat dry.

6. Slice a layer off the thickened stem of each leaf to make rolling easier. Spread out the leaves flat on a large working surface.

7. Fill each leaf with an equal amount of stuffing and roll them from the stem end forward, tucking in the sides as you complete the roll.

8. Place the rolls, seam side down, in a layer in a baking disk and pour ½ cup tomato sauce over top.

9. Bake for 30 minutes or until the leaves are tender. The recipe can be double and layered in the baking dish with tomato sauce between the layers. They freeze well.