Minimalistic Healthy Cooking: Cabbage

Hands on time: Half hour or more, depending on skills.

We call it simply cabbage. Angela and i. It has the same ingredients and largely taste of a dish that cannot miss during any holiday in Romania. The local version of cabbage rolls minus the wonderful flavour of pickled cabbage. Much easier to cook though.

Not complicated, not sophisticated, this recipe is good for those who never cook and want to try. Driven by the principle: Anything cooked at home in a reasonably decent manner, is better than anything fast food. Cabbage even better because it is low calories though loaded with vitamin C, minerals and fiber. It is a recipe developed by the two of us derived from family recipes in Romania, many Romanians would be surprised how it evolved. It can be used as side for meat.

Need one healthy fresh ripe cabbage (not exactly like this one, bought two days ago), a few carrots, half onion, parsley (optional), half bell pepper (optional), (either) tomatoes, tomato juice or paste or V8 (You probably figured by now. There are a number of ingredients that repeat in most of my recipes, for practical reasons, can only have so many ingredients in the fridge). Even canned pasta or pizza sauce leftovers will do it (though it will surely ruin the taste because of the number of ingredients they use).

One large cup of rice.

Spices.

(Please ignore what you see in some pictures on the counter on left upper corner. It is crystalized borax and sugar, for ants. For humans borax has the toxicity of table salt. In fact, it is used to preserve caviar. If i remove it, ants will come.)

Wash, peel the bad parts and cut thin aiming pasta like appearance.

Separately start some rice. Know how to cook rice? One big cup (300 ml) of rice, two same size cups of water. Boil the water, add the rice and set it to lowest setting, preferably with a clear lid to see if it's boiling. Simmering that is. For ten minutes. Never mix. By that time water will be absorbed by rice. Then stop the burner and let it sit for five more minutes. At the end can add some olive oil, parsley. Do not salt if you want to use it with soy sauce.

Put the cabbage in a big pot with half inch of water at the bottom. Grate some carrots, dice a tomato or two, add some tomato juice (optional), chopped parsley (optional), half onion, half bell pepper (optional), spices, salt. Put the lid on, set it to medium low, listen for the boiling sound. Because of the small amount of water at the bottom it will be mostly steamed, not boiled. Half hour to 40 minutes total steaming time for first ingredient, cabbage. Mix any time you want. I do it after i'm done adding all ingredients, this way i do not work twice. At this time, can add some olive oil.

There is something about combining the taste of rice and cabbage. It happens in the original Romanian recipe, i saw it at the Best Teriyaki restaurant in Beaverton where i ate of course best teriyaki ever. Many times, many years; there was a decent amount of lightly steamed cabbage with a bit of pepper on top next to the rice that made it special. Always wondered how they cooked that perfect rice (and finally figured it and i'm passing it to you). And of course the perfectly cooked meat.  (This recipe is strictly vegetarian though).