Cabbage is Cheap Too!

[Rozzer]

Cabbage is not only a very healthy vegetable, it's also quite inexpensive - as I'm sure you're well aware. Since my wife's now a vegetarian, it's nice to find recipes we can both agree on for dinner without anyone feeling they're giving up anything. The recipe below is a traditional Hungarian (and Polish) dish that obviously won't hurt your pocketbook and which satisfies both of us with only a salad on the side and perhaps some rye bread.

HALUSKA

Ingredients:

Wide noodles, cooked
1/4 cup butter
1 medium head of cabbage
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 chopped onion

Directions:

Chop or dice cabbage until pieces are quite small.

Sprinkle with salt and let stand for ten minutes. Squeeze out any liquid.

Fry the onion in a small amount of butter until golden. Add to cabbage.

Fry the cabbage in the rest of the butter over low heat until lightly browned and tender.

Serve over hot noodles.

(Derived from Cook.com recipe)

[K. Slink]

Is this the same type of recipe that usually has bacon in it? I don't recall what the name of it was...

[Rozzer]

Is this the same type of recipe that usually has bacon in it? I don't recall what the name of it was...

Yes, people DO cook this with bacon or sausage. But since we had to compromise on a vegetarian dish, this was it. Nor did I just delete bacon as an ingredient. Apparently many Hungarian and Polish people make this frequently without meat, whether as a side dish or not. No question that bacon would jazz it right up (some recipes call for as much as 3/4 pound!) but I'd like to keep it on the healthy side. (Bac-O-Bits?)

[K. Slink]

When I worked in a Jewish deli I put German potato salad out using Baco's, worked surprisingly well!

[Rozzer]

When I worked in a Jewish deli I put German potato salad out using Baco's, worked surprisingly well!

Mmmm! Just as an interested question, how much black pepper did you put in the German potato salad? I've always found that almost blackening the surface of German potato salad with fresh ground pepper creates an almost irresistable dish. (I can easily eat a quart of it just as a side dish.) But then I'm a black pepper nut. I do the same on mac and cheese and other dishes. And don't ask me about putting ground cinnamon on rice pudding!

[K. Slink]

Hmmmm, I really don't remember. Probably not too much because the clientele was rather conservative in their tastes. I grind so much pepper over cottage cheese that the top looks gray, then repeat the process until I'm finished with it. Kind of the same with potatoes and mac n cheese, I know what you mean!

[KarenB]

Turns out that black pepper is really good for you. Found this article interesting. And when I make Ukrainian cabbage rolls they are meatless.

http://chetday.com/blackpepper.htm

[K. Slink]

I read years ago that when making stuffed cabbage rolls, the easiest, fastest way to get the leaves off the head was to put it in the freezer overnight. Supposedly they would peel right off the next day without all that annoying splitting, plus you can skip the blanching process. Has anyone tried this method?

[Rozzer]

Here's another interesting, cheap, no-meat cabbage recipe from India:

Cabbage Rice

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cup Basmati Rice
• 1 Whole Cabbage
• 1 cup frozen Green Peas
• 2 Medium-Sized Onions (sliced)
• 1 Tomato (chopped)
• 2 Green Chilies (chopped)
• 2-3 pods Garlic (chopped)
• 1 inch Ginger (chopped)
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 2 tbsp Coriander Powder
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
• 5-6 twigs Coriander Leaves (optional)
• 2 tbsp Oil
• Salt to taste

Directions:

•Cook the rice as per package directions until all the grains are separate, then cool.

•Put chopped cabbage, a pinch of salt, turmeric powder and 1/2 cup water in a saute pan. Keep it on medium heat and let the cabbage be cooked.

•Heat the oil in another frying pan. Add cumin seeds and allow spluttering.

•Add chopped chilies, ginger, garlic, tomato and onion slices to the oil and cumin seeds. Stir till onions turn light golden in color.

•Now add cooked cabbage, peas, coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder.

•Once the cabbage is slightly tender, add the cooked rice and a pinch of salt to the above. Stir the mixture thoroughly.

•Add some more water and cover the pan with a lid until the water dries completely. Then remove from the heat.

•Garnish Cabbage Rice with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.

[KarenB]

I always freeze my cabbage for rolls. It is the easiest thing ever. Give it a day or two to thaw out. The leaves are super flexible and never split. I saute my rice and onion in butter for a few minutes then wrap them in the leaves. Extra leaves on bottom to avoid burning. Tuck them in tight and pour a large can of Tomato JUICE on top. I don't use soup because the juice has spicier flavour.salt and pepper. cook in 350 oven for about 1.5 hour or until the aroma drives everyone crazy waiting for them!