Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (vegan)

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (vegan)

2 heads cabbage
1 1/2 cups brown rice, uncooked
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup brown sugar
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1/2 pound oyster mushrooms (sliced into small chunks)
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped coarse
2 large onions, chopped
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Core the cabbage. Take the pot off of the heat, drop in a cabbage, and let sit 10-15 minutes. Drop the cabbage into a colander to cool a few minutes, then carefully pull off whole leaves and set them aside. You should get 12-16 leaves per head. Repeat with the second head. Set aside
the remainder of the cabbage. Combine the rice, raisins, mushrooms, walnuts, brown sugar, 1/2
cup of lemon juice, 2/3 of the onion, and one can of tomato (drain off the juice and reserve it). Place approximately 2-3 Tbsp of the mixture onto the thick end of a cabbage leaf, fold in the sides, and roll towards the tip. Place seam-side down in a Dutch oven. Repeat until all of the cabbage leaves are stuffed (they will stack up to nearly fill the pot). Chop up the remaining cabbage into a bowl. Dump in the second can of tomatoes, the juice from the first, the remaining lemon juice, onion, salt and pepper, and any remaining filling. Mix, and dump on top of the rolls in the pot. Add about 1 cup of water (won't quite cover it). Heat on medium until the mixture boils, then cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 3-4 hours, reducing heat to low if necessary. The rolls steam in the juices, and shrink down as the cabbage cooks. Don't stir! You can then serve immediately, or reheat the next day. It reheats and freezes well. To serve, spoon 2-3 rolls onto a plate, add some shmatas and juices, and serve with Russian rye bread (to mop up the juice).

My suggestion is that instead of the canned tomatoes you prepare a good bechamel, adding some white cheese or tofu, and add it as a binder of the ingredients for the stuffing. Just search here in the Message Boards for several recipes for Bechamel Sauce. The cheese should be added at the end of the cooking process. Good Luck with your rolls.