Cabbage Rolls in Italian Sauce

Roll it Right!

Cabbage is usually not a popular vegetable. It has to be cooked with enough added flavours to make it enjoyable. My favourite method is to turn it into cabbage rolls by using Verka Paneer and a few more ingredients. It looks spectacular and is an absolute hit with the family!

Ingredients:

• 7-8 whole leaves of cabbage
• 3 tbsp Verka Butter
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 400 gm tomatoes, pureed
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 4 tbsp raisins
• 2½ tbsp brown sugar
• Salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste
• ½ cup cooked rice
• 1 cup spring onion greens, chopped
• 2 cups grated Verka Paneer
• 1 egg
• 4 cloves chopped garlic

Method

• Heat half the butter in a pan and saute the ½ cup of onions till they are softened and brown.
• Add half the garlic and cook for a minute. Then add the tomatoes, some salt and pepper.
• Pop in the brown sugar, raisins, chilli flakes and vinegar. Cook till you have a semi-thick sauce.
• Boil lots of water in a large vessel. Add a tbsp of salt and submerge the cabbage leaves in it. Blanch till tender (about 3 minutes), then drain.
• For the filling, fry the rest of the onions in the remaining butter.
• Add the remaining garlic, salt, pepper and chopped onion greens.
• Scatter the rice and crumbled Verka Paneer into the pan and cook the mixture till the flavours have melded and most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Lay out the cabbage leaves on a clean surface and place the filling on each of them at the stalk side.
• Spread it into an oblong shape across the width, and roll up each leaf tightly folding the sides in as you go along.
• Lay the rolled leaves side by side in a flat dish. Tuck in the seam-side.
• Generously spoon hot sauce over the rolls and serve with some buttered buns.

Note: Ready tomato puree can be used instead of processing fresh tomatoes. It will reduce your cooking time. Replace onion greens with chopped and blanched spinach for a variation. Even cooked and shredded chicken can be used as a stuffing along with capsicum or bell peppers. Raisins balance the chilli quotient and the acidity of tomatoes. You can omit them if you don’t want the sweet dimension.