Bruce Springsteen ~ Beautiful Disguise
The Cranberries ~ I'm Still Remembering
Natalie Imbruglia ~ On The Run
Thunder ~ She's My Inspiration
Maroon 5 ~ Daylight
Mr Big ~ Green-Tinted Sixties Mind
Court Yard Hounds ~ Skyline
Brandi Carlile ~ Cannonball
Ugly Kid Joe ~ Madman
Soul Asylum ~ I Will Still Be Laughing
Janiva Magness ~ Slipped, Tripped And Fell In Love
Nicola Benedetti ~ Tzigane
Chely Wright ~ Snow Globe
The Cranberries ~ Not Sorry
It's Friday folks! Woo! We survived another week...a cause for celebration I always feel. Today I have ML working from home and the company of little Layla. On my to-do list today is to build a Dragons Nest with Layla, make birthday celebration soup for my Mum's birthday lunch tomorrow, make Panch Kol curry for tomorrow night, go to the library...and well that's it. Exciting stuff I hear you say...well for me it is because it means my physical health is at a point where I can make plans like this and potter along and get things done. It's not always the case...so I celebrate and revel in these seemingly mundane tasks. It's how I roll darlin'...lol
I've been tinkering with some of the old vegetarian classics recently and this week it was the good old stuffed cabbage's turn. I have always loved cabbage, pretty much anyway it can be cooked as long as it is a veggie dish. ML wasn't always so keen and would dutifully eat a stuffed cabbage meal but purely out of love..lol. So it's quite sad that now it's the only veg that ML can eat without having a massive reaction. Poor thing. I've always enjoyed the stuffed cabbage dishes from the past and have tried many recipes varying the fillings and sauces. But I always wanted to create a recipe of my own that was a homage to the classics but with a new twist. Yesterday was finally that day...
During a visit to the supermarket a magnificent savoy cabbage practically threw itself at me as I walked by and it was huge! Before it actually reached my trolley I knew exactly what I was going to do with those giant outer leaves...yep..stuff 'em. lol.I've been enjoying a love affair with ginger over the last three weeks...it is safe to say I have found my savoury ginger love. I still cannot begin to imagine that sweet ginger will be part of my life as the thought of crystallised ginger still gives me the heebie geebies...lol. But as I don't eat sweet things now...I don't have to try it. (Phew!) As I walked around the rest of the supermarket I started putting this recipe together in my mind and by the time I reached home it was all laid out and just needed to be scribbled down on paper..and made...
Yes it's a recipe that requires work but I don't mind that. I quite enjoy putting the various bits together and felt quite satisfied as I placed the finished dish into the hot oven. I'm kooky like that..lol. And when I cut into the first roll the smell that hit my senses told me that I had achieved everything I wanted to...yep..without tasting a thing. In my foodie world I live for those moments...
I used a mix of sweet potato, roasted cashews, fresh ginger, brown rice and marjoram as the main flavours for the stuffing and combined they make a fantastically intense filling. It makes enough to stuff 4 large cabbage leaves really well...but you could use maybe 6-8 medium ones and still have enough filling. I also wanted a sauce that was fresh and also provided another layer of ginger heat and so made up a simple tomato/ginger combo and I was really happy with the results and combined with the stuffed cabbage it worked very well.
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| Rocket & Roses Roasted Cashew, Sweet Potato & Ginger Stuffed Cabbage with a Tomato & Ginger Sauce |
Rocket & Roses Roasted Cashew, Sweet Potato & Ginger Stuffed with a Tomato/Ginger Sauce Serves 2-4 (Original recipe from the Rocket & Roses Vegan Kitchen)
4 large cabbage leaves
Stuffing:
1 heaped 1/2 cup of cashew pieces
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, micro grated
1 2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and micro grated
1 med/large sweet potato, peeled and grated/shredded
130g cooked brown rice
3/4 tsp dried marjoram
1 14oz tin of green lentils, rinsed and drained well
freshly ground black pepper to taste
trace of ground Himalayan salt (optional)
Sauce:
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 tsp garlic infused olive oil
7 med/large fresh plum tomatoes, skinned, semi seeded and chopped
3 fl oz veggie stock or water
1 1/2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and micro grated
Pre-heat the oven to 350'F/180'C/GM 4. Line a baking sheet with tin foil, place the cashew pieces on it, place in the heated oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, lift off the tin foil and place them on the side to cool for 5 minutes. The cashews will carry on baking in the tinfoil so keep a check on them. We want them golden/light brown not dark brown. Remove them from the tin foil, coarsely chop them and set to one side.
Take your rinsed cabbage leaves, place them in a pan of boiling water and once the water comes back to the boil..let boil for 5 minutes until just tender. Remove from the pan and allow to cool on a sheet of kitchen towel. Set to one side.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large skillet and cook the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion is soft. Add the grated sweet potato and stir well to combine with the onion mix. Stir frequently and don't allow the stuffing to stick to the skillet..if needed add a little water but not a lot. The sweet potato will let out some natural moisture as it cooks down. Add the dried marjoram and stir well and allow to heat through and become fragrant. Add the lentils and brown rice and stir well. Allow to cook down for 5 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the roasted cashews. Season with the salt and pepper to your personal taste.
In a smaller skillet heat the garlic infused olive oil and gently saute the red onion until tender. Add the tomatoes and ginger and stir well. Gently simmer the mix until the tomatoes have cooked down to a soft mush and the sauce has thickened. Approx 10 minutes over a low heat. Remove the sauce from the skillet into a jug, add 3 fl oz veggie stock and then blend until smooth with a hand blender. Set to one side.
To assemble:
Ready a baking dish large enough to take the stuffed leaves. Divide the mixture into four sections in the skillet. Take one leaf and place in the palm of your hand, forming a cup...fill the leaf with one section of the stuffing then fold in the sides and roll it in your palm...be careful as the filling will not want to co-operate and when you have it closed, place it closed side down in the dish and press down gently. Repeat with the remaining leaves and the stuffing until you have four rolls in your dish. Pour over the sauce making sure you cover as much of the rolls as possible. Grate black pepper over the sauce and place in the heated oven for 25 minutes. Serve with steamed green veggies or salad.
Enjoy!
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| The finished product..not so attractive but once portioned out it looks better lol |
Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Friday has been a splendid one folks...
~Red~
