Preparation:

Do this for old cabbage: sprinkle with 1 or 2 Tbsp coarse salt, mix well, let sit for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain in a colander, rinsing to remove the excess salt. For new cabbage, just shred it and use it immediately.

Boil 1-3/4 cups water in a small pan, add the TVP, and stir to reconstitute it. Take it off heat.

In a bowl, combine the tomato sauce, tomato paste, and 3 cups water. Stir well to dissolve the paste. Add herbs of your choice and stir again. If you salted the cabbage, don't add any more salt; otherwise, add in 1 tsp salt.

In a soup pot, layer the ingredients: first half of the cabbage, then half of the onions, garlic, TVP, and finally the rice. Pour half the tomato mixture over it. Then layer again as before, ending with the tomato sauce. If it seems dry, add another cup of water.

Cover and simmer over low heat for one hour. (The recipe that I stayed the closest to said 2 hours, but I didn't wait that long. Maybe she used brown rice.) Check it gently, not disturbing the layering too much, after the first 30 minutes and every half hour you let it cook, to see if it needs more water. It should neither wet nor dry but just moist.

NOTE: The amount of water I said to add to the tomato sauce is my approximation now, as I didn't measure it but kepTbsp adding more until it seemed right for cooking the rice. The cabbage provides some moisture too, but most of the rice cooking liquid will be the tomato liquid. The boiling water-to-TVP ratio is exact. This made a huge quantity. In fact, I plan to do it again next week when I need to bring a dish to a potluck lunch for a crowd. You could cut all the ingredients in half and use a small cabbage if you don't want a big potful.

Servings:
Source: Muriel Kranowski
Submitted by: Recipe Group Member
Date: Jan 9, 2000

• 
• 
• 
• 

•