Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls (Sarma) Recipe
A plant-based Cabbage Rolls (Sarma) recipe. We substituted the traditional ground beef filling with Cannellini beans and added more vegetables to increase the dish’s nutritional value.
Equipment
- 1 Slow Cooker
- 1 large, deep skillet
- 1 medium saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 cup dry white cannellini beans
- 2 cups of water
- 2 stalks of celery finely chopped
- 3 medium carrots finely chopped
- 1 large yellow onion finely chopped
- 6 cloves of garlic crushed
- 2 tbsp of finely chopped parsley
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp Vegeta seasoning *
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ cup sunflower oil
- 1000 mL vegetable broth
- 1 head of sour fermented cabbage **
Instructions
Sarma Filling:
- Rinse the cannellini beans. Add the beans to a medium sized saucepan and pour in 3 cups of water. Bring the water and beans to a boil, let it boil for 10 minutes. Strain the beans.
- Finely chop the celery, carrots and onion.
- Heat a large, deep skillet or large saucepan over medium-high heat and add the sunflower oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion and saute for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the chopped celery, carrots, and crushed garlic and saute for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add in the rice, the cannellini beans, Vegeta seasoning, pepper, salt, smoked paprika, chopped parsley and let it cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Set the filling aside, and allow it to cool down for 10-15 minutes.
Making the Sarma:
- Remove 20 outermost layers from the head of sour cabbage.
- To make the cabbage roll, place 2 tbsp of the filling in the middle of one cabbage leaf. Starting at the stem of the leaf, roll the cabbage leaf tightly, tucking the sides of the leaf on top of the filling. Make 20 cabbage rolls.
- Remove 3-4 more layers from the head of the sour cabbage and line the bottom of the slow cooker with these layers. Place the cabbage rolls in the slow cooker with the seams of the rolls facing down.
- Pour vegetable broth over the cabbage rolls in the slow cooker, enough to cover the cabbage rolls entirely.
- Cook on low heat for 8 hours.
- Serve the cabbage rolls hot on a plate and enjoy!
Notes
*You can find Vegeta at The Canadian Superstore or Walmart. Alternatively you could substitute it with ½ tbsp garlic powder, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper
**You can find heads of sour (fermented) cabbage at Save On Foods and other grocery stores. Or you could make your own fermented cabbage at home, which is the authentic way of making Sarma. Here is a recipe for Balkan-Style Fermented Cabbage