If you love delicious and easy dinner recipes, you’re going to fawn over this vegan Cabbage Roll Casserole. Layers of softened and seasoned cabbage, intertwined with crushed tomatoes, and savory rice. A wintery dream dish that takes little effort and few ingredients.
Place the soy curls in bowl and cover with hot water for 20 minutes. Drain and wring out as much of the liquid as you can. Transfer to a food processor and pulse a few times until chopped up into smaller pieces. Alternatively you can use a cutting board and mince them up by hand into small pieces. (If using mushrooms just chop them up and sautee in a drop of olive oil with a pinch of salt until wilted).
Combine the minced soy curls with the cooked brown rice, nutritional yeast and parsley. Set aside.
Preheat your largest skillet over medium heat and saute the onion in a drizzle of olive oil and pinch of salt until translucent and begins to get a little color. (Omit oil and use a splash of water to be WFPB + Plantricious complaint).
Stir in the red pepper flakes and garlic and cook just until the garlic fragrant taking care not to burn it. Add the cabbage and give everything a toss. You might need to work in batches here or just wait for the cabbage to wilt before adding more.
Sautee the cabbage until fully wilted and it begins to get a little color and caramelize at the edges, about 20+ minutes.
Meanwhile transfer the San Marzano tomatoes to a bowl and use your hand to roughly crush. You want a thick puree with some tomato pieces throughout.
Transfer 3/4 of the crushed tomatoes to the pan with the cabbage and stir to combine, reserve the rest for later use. Season to taste with smoked sea salt and stir in the fresh dill if using.
In a 10 inch round casserole layer half of the cooked rice and soy curl mixture and top with half of the cabbage mix.
Top the cabbage layer with dollops of sour cream (or you can use cashew cream for WFPB + Plantricious compliance) and sprinkle with the chives or more fresh dill.
Layer the remaining rice mix and top with the rest of the cabbage.
Preheat your oven to 400”F and bake the casserole for 12 to 15 minutes until the top layer of cabbage starts to caramelize at the edges to your liking.
Remove from heat and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving topped with more vegans our cream or cashew cream, garnished with fresh dill or chives to your liking.
WFPB + Plantricious
Omit oil and the vegan sour cream from the recipe and use a splash of water for sauteeing. Use the cashew cream recipe to make this dish WFPB + Plantricious complaint. To make the cream combine the cashews and water and blend in a powerful blender until silky smooth.
Notes
Storage - Store in a sealed container for 3-4 days or freeze it in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Reheating - Reheat from the fridge by using the oven or microwave. If reheating from the freezer, let thaw mostly before using the oven or microwave.
Make it a soup or stew - If you fancy more of a soup/stew version make sure to try my Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup that features a mix of fresh cabbage and sauerkraut.
Use leftover rice - You can use any brown rice leftovers you have or just simply cook it for this recipe with a bay leaf and a pinch of salt. I happened to make a brown rice pilaf the other day with sautéed carrot and onion and ended up using that. It was perfect!
Use all the tomatoes - If you used an extra large cabbage head or prefer your casserole more tomato-heavy, you can use the entire 28 oz can.
Substitute the sour cream - Instead of the vegan sour cream, you can opt for some vegan cheese like smoked gouda or crumbles of vegan feta.
Make it simpler - To make it easier, you can just toss together the rice and cabbage mixture and bake it with a layer of sour cream in between. Top it with more sour cream and dill when serving.
Soy curls substitute - The ground meat in the classic recipe is replaced with chopped up, protein-loaded soy curls, but if you want, you can replace it with tempeh or chopped up mushrooms. Even some store-bought, Italian, plant-based sausage would work well. Get creative.