Christmas 1995 in Frankfurt. I went to Germany with my Godmother (her origin was from Istanbul and was forced to leave there in the 60s and come to Greece), to visit her daughter and spend Christmas there. It was Christmas Eve morning, and she asks me if I can help her make Christmas cabbage rolls.

He calls them Christmas because they are eaten the day before Christmas and due to fasting that period, they do not contain minced meat. I accepted the offer with pleasure because my Godmother was an amazing cook and I always wanted to learn cooking from her. She gave me a bag of onions and told me that she wanted us to peel the onions and cut them into sticks (I later learned that this cut is called julienne in French). My question was how many onions she wanted and her response left me speechless, it was the whole bag…a total of 64 large onions which I ended up peeling and chopping the way she wanted them. A total of about 90-100 cabbage rolls (sarmas) were made. You see a large family with children, grandchildren and friends gathered. The cabbage sarmas that contained very little rice, raisins and pine nuts were and are the best cabbage sarmas I have ever eaten in my life! At some point, I will write you this recipe.

The recipe below is a modification of my godmother’s recipe, for greater convenience on the one hand and to use up leftovers from the festive dinner on the other. We tend to exaggeration in quantity for the festive meals to differentiate from the daily or Sunday meals. So, the amount of cabbage salad was too much even for the 11 people we were. Also, after so much meat and food during the holidays, you want something that is meat-free and for Epiphany, when we are fasting, this is the best recipe!!!


Yields6 ServingsDifficultyBeginner

Cook Time15 mins

Tip: Check off the ingredients you have used in the recipe or note the ingredients you have and add the rest to you shopping list to buy them. - Attention: All ingredients  must be checked that are Gluten-Free and without traces of gluten.

 4 large onions, julienne chopped
 ½ small cabbage, julienne chopped or do as I did, the leftover cabbage salad from the holiday table and let it be finely chopped with carrot and celery
 ½ cup carolina rice, it can also be made with other rice, Carolina rice seems tastier to me
 50 g pine nuts
 100 g raisins
  cup oil, preferably extra virgin olive oil
 salt
 pepper

Abbreviations: g=grams kg= kilograms cup=250 ml tsp= teaspoon=5 ml  tbsp= tablespoon=3 tsp=15 ml ml= millilitre= (1ml=0.034 fl oz / 1fl oz=29.6 ml) l=litre/liter=1000ml

1

In a pot, put the oil and the chopped onions to steam, stirring them constantly. Stir them constantly because we don’t want to fry them.

2

As soon as onions start to become transparent, add the chopped cabbage and mix it well.

3

Add to the pot, the rice, the pine nuts, the raisins, the salt and pepper and 1 ½ cups of lukewarm water or broth.

4

Reduce the heat to 1/3 of the total. (e.g. if our switch has scale up to 3, put it to 1. My kitchen has a scale up to 9 so I set it to 3).

5

Stir gently at the begging, until the boiling is reduced and then stir from time to time.

6

If we are not in a hurry, best way is to turn off the heat after 10 minutes and let the rice cook slowly, stirring them from time to time. This can take about 40 minutes. But if we are in a hurry, it will be ready in 15 to 20 minutes on low heat.

Ingredients

 4 large onions, julienne chopped
 ½ small cabbage, julienne chopped or do as I did, the leftover cabbage salad from the holiday table and let it be finely chopped with carrot and celery
 ½ cup carolina rice, it can also be made with other rice, Carolina rice seems tastier to me
 50 g pine nuts
 100 g raisins
  cup oil, preferably extra virgin olive oil
 salt
 pepper

Directions

1

In a pot, put the oil and the chopped onions to steam, stirring them constantly. Stir them constantly because we don’t want to fry them.

2

As soon as onions start to become transparent, add the chopped cabbage and mix it well.

3

Add to the pot, the rice, the pine nuts, the raisins, the salt and pepper and 1 ½ cups of lukewarm water or broth.

4

Reduce the heat to 1/3 of the total. (e.g. if our switch has scale up to 3, put it to 1. My kitchen has a scale up to 9 so I set it to 3).

5

Stir gently at the begging, until the boiling is reduced and then stir from time to time.

6

If we are not in a hurry, best way is to turn off the heat after 10 minutes and let the rice cook slowly, stirring them from time to time. This can take about 40 minutes. But if we are in a hurry, it will be ready in 15 to 20 minutes on low heat.

Vegan Gluten Free Cabbage Rice with Raisins & Pine Nuts
  • The ratio for carolina rice and water, so that it boils and becomes correct, is 1 rice to 3 water or broth. However, if we want it more pimply, add less water, as for example for yellow rice the ratio is 1 to 2 ½ water/broth and for basmati rice is 1 to 2 water/broth.
  • The truth is, that you can cook this food with plenty of oil. So add more or less, depending on how you like it. My godmother used to put 1/3 of the oil that each food needs at the beginning to be cooked together and the rest of the oil was pour it to the food at the last 5 min of cooking. And that because at one hand, tastes better and on the other and main reason is to be healthier and not having stomach problems.
  • Be careful with the salt in case you use the cabbage from the salad.

Good Luck and Bon Appétit!!!

Did you make this recipe;

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