Posted on: Wednesday, March 9, 2005
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LIGHT & LOCAL
St. Patrick's Day calls for cabbage
By Carol Devenot
Last year I attended St. Patrick's Day festivities on Merchant Street. A few restaurants were serving corned beef and cabbage. This gave me the idea to come up with a healthier alternative — cabbage stuffed with rice and Boca Burgers. It's got the green of cabbage but not all the fat and salt of corned beef.
You can find regular cabbage in the supermarket. Select the large heads because the larger leaves make it easier to wrap the filling. But what a nice surprise to find savoy cabbage next to the regular cabbage heads. Savoy cabbage has ruffled yellow-green leaves that form a less compact head than other types. It contains a significant amount of folate (folic acid) and some beta carotene (five times more than either green and red cabbage.) It also has a more delicate texture and milder flavor than other cabbages. Great for salads and coleslaw! You can use either type of cabbage for this dish.
Two ingredients in this dish may be unfamiliar. Boca Burgers are my preferred brand of soy-based meat substitute, found in health-food stores and some grocery stores. Date sugar is a natural sweetener also found in health-food stores; date sugar is more slowly absorbed than more refined types. You can substitute brown sugar, but may want to cut back on the amount — the sauce shouldn't be too sweet.
This is a convenient, one-skillet dish. First, boil the cabbage leaves in water. Then make the sauce in the same pan and place the cabbage rolls on top to simmer. You will have a great meal for St. Patrick's Day.
No forget to wear da green. Clothes, I mean.
Savvy (savoy) Stuffed Cabbage
Cook the brown rice in a microwave rice cooker or rice maker.
In covered 12-inch skillet, cook cabbage leaves in 1 inch of boiling water for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop the onions and Boca Burgers. Measure out the vinegar, olive oil and date sugar.
Drain cabbage in colander and set aside.
In the same skillet, over medium heat, sauté the olive oil and onion for 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, date sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper, and water. Simmer. In a larger bowl, combine chopped Boca Burgers, cooked rice, egg substitute, basil, Worcestershire and garlic. In the center of each cabbage leaf, place about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the Boca mixture.
Fold two sides of leaf toward the center and roll up. Place filled leaves, seam sides down, in skillet with sauce. Over medium heat, heat to simmering (gently bubbling). Reduce to low; cover and cook 45 minutes.
Makes 8 roll-ups.
• Per serving: 200 calories, 17 g protein, 4 g fat, 28 g carbohydrates, 5 g dietary fiber, 590 mg sodium: 34 percent protein, 55 percent carbohydrates, 11 percent fat Want a local recipe lightened up? Write Light & Local, Taste Section, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; or taste@honoluluadvertiser.com. Carol Devenot is a Kaimuki-raised kama'aina, teacher, recipe consultant, and author of "Island Light Cuisine" (Blue Sea Publishing, paper, 2003). Learn more at islandlightcuisine.com.
Don't wash the cabbage until you are ready to use it. It will lose its vitamin C if you cut, chop or tear it. Use only a stainless steel knife to prevent leave edges from turning black. To remove the single leaves for stuffing, cut the base of each leaf with a sharp knife, then carefully peel the leaf from the head to avoid tearing.
