Cabbage Rolls

I am so happy to announce that my recipe for Patatas Bravas is being featured on Foodista under “blog of the day”! It will be up for 24 hours on May 20, 2012 (PST). Please check it out here

I made cabbage rolls and they turned out tasting so dynamic! I did not steam them like the traditional way- I pan fried them instead and smeared a tomato sauce pepped up with a BBQ sauce.

The recipe has a bold flavor of thyme, I rarely use this herb but it blended really well with the cabbage and the sauces.

I stuffed the cabbage with couscous cooked with bell pepper, onions some seasonings and barbecue sauce. Steamed the cabbage leaves to make it tender and roll-able and pan fried the rolls till the skin turned all crispy and dark. Great smokey flavor!

I was aiming for a sizzler-ish flavor for the cabbage. In India, sizzler is a famous delicacy at the restaurants. A vegetarian sizzler basically consists of grilled veggies dipped in bbq sauce, seasoned rice and fries over a bed of cabbage.

Everything is served on a sizzling hot iron plate. The heat from the iron plate cooks the cabbage leaves giving it this smokey, almost burnt flavor…it tastes pretty great with the rice and the veggies.

I used a store bought bbq sauce, but if you have a favorite recipe for a homemade bbq sauce..feel free to use that!

makes 8 cabbage rolls

cooking time 1 hour

Things you will need:

1 big cabbage head

1 cup dried couscous

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup bbq sauce

fresh thyme chopped- as desired, plus a few sprigs

1/2 tbs ground cumin

salt and pepper

olive oil for stir frying

1 1/2 cup water

1 big/deep pot of boiling water

1 big pot of ice cold water

Wash the cabbage, pat dry and remove the core at the bottom using a small knife. Cut around the circle of the knot. Separate the leaves and cook for a few minutes in the boiling water. Take out of the pan using tongs and insert in a big bowl of ice water. Leave it in the ice water for roughly 5 minutes. Pat dry and keep aside.

In a another pan, stir fry onions, garlic and bell peppers in some olive oil. Add 1 tbs of chopped thyme. Season it with salt, pepper and ground cumin and stir for a few minutes. Add bbq sauce and mix well. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and bring everything to a boil. Add couscous, stir continuously for 30 seconds, turn the heat off, cover and and let the couscous cook in the liquid for 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Bring to room temperature.

Take one cabbage leaf, add two heap-full spoons of the couscous in the center and fold, keep aside and repeat with other leaves. In a pan heat some olive oil, and cook the cabbage rolls on medium high with some thyme sprigs. Cook till the the cabbage turns dark brown. Serve with your favorite tomato sauce!