Growing up, I hated the traditional cabbage rolls but as I’ve said before, it could be that no one cooked them right. I just remember the cabbage being limp and mushy yet somehow to tough to chew through. I’d take them apart and eat the filling sometimes but I really hated the chunks of diced peppers and onions in the rice/meat mixture (I think the onions & peppers weren’t sauteed or cooked? They were always a bit crunchy) . Let’s not forget whatever that sauce is on top of them. It may have been just tomato soup out of a can. I’m not sure. Anyway, cabbage rolls were gross in my book.
I call my version “Inside-Out Cabbage Rolls”. It’s more like a stew. There’s no fussing with rolling any sort of mixture up into a cabbage leaf and the cabbage is in small, bite-sized pieces but doesn’t overwhelm the dish. One of my kids claims to not like cabbage but she ate 2 bowls of this and loved it.
Inside-Out Cabbage Rolls
Use This Stuff
- half a head of cabbage, cut into chunks
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 onion,diced
- 1 green pepper,diced
- 1 can of stewed tomatoes
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1 lb of ground turkey OR 1-2 cups of black beans
- water
- Saute the peppers ,onions and ground turkey in a small but of oil. You don’t have to do this if you’re trying to save time …I just prefer to do it . Cooking the meat first also reduces fat . Either way, put the onions,peppers & meat or black beans into the crock pot.
- throw in the rest of the ingredients with about 2 ½ cups of water or enough to nearly cover all the ingredients in the crockpot.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours or 3-4 on high.
