Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

2 medium heads of cabbage or one very large one
1 1/2 cups brown rice (I used brown basmati), uncooked (can also use pre-cooked rice – reduce the additional water at the end to ~1/2 cup if using this method)
1 package tempeh (steam 15 minutes, cool, mash into small chunks with a fork)
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup maple sugar or syrup
1-15 ounce can stewed tomatoes
1/2 pound fresh shiitake mushroom caps (sliced)
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped coarsely
2 large onions, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (cont.)

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Core the cabbage(s). Take the pot off of the heat, drop in a cabbage, and let sit 10-15 minutes.
• Drop the cabbage into a colander to cool a few minutes, then carefully pull off whole leaves and set them aside. You should get 12-16 leaves per head. Repeat with the second head. (I got ~25 from one large head of cabbage)
• Set aside the remainder of the cabbage. Combine the tempeh, rice, raisins, mushrooms, walnuts, maple syrup, lemon juice, 2/3 of the onion, and the stewed tomatoes (drain off the juice and reserve it).
• Place approximately 2-3 TBS of the mixture onto the thick end of a cabbage leaf, fold in the sides, and roll towards the tip. Place seam-side down in a large Dutch oven.
• Repeat until all of the cabbage leaves are stuffed (they will stack up to nearly fill the pot).
• Chop up the remaining cabbage and add to the filling along with the remaining onion, salt and pepper. Mix, and dump on top of the rolls in the pot. Add about 1 cup of water plus remaining juice from the tomatoes.
• Cover the Dutch oven, place into pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F. Cook 45-60 minutes until the cabbage rolls are steamed and limp and the rice is cooked.

You can then serve immediately, or reheat the next day. It reheats and freezes well.