Stuffed cabbage

By Birgitta

Yotam Ottolenghi.

Rice and vermicelli is a common combination in Arab and Turkish cooking - it has a lighter texture than rice on its own. Here they're stuffed into cabbage leaves to make a truly comforting dish.

Ingredients

• 30 g unsalted butter
• 45 g vermicelli (not the rice variety)
• 150 g basmati rice
• 300 ml water
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 medium white cabbage
• 40 g toasted pine nuts, chopped
• 130 g ricotta
• 4 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 3 tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 600 g chopped peeled tomatoes, fresh or tinned
• 300 ml dry white wine
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Olive oil

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from guardian.co.uk

Preparation

Step 1

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Break the noodles into rough 2cm lengths and add to the pan. Stir as you fry for a minute or two, taking care because they can burn in a second. The moment the noodles start going golden, stir in the rice, water and half a teaspoon of salt, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to its lowest setting, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, leave to sit for 10 minutes, then remove the lid and allow to cool down a bit.

While the rice is cooking, cut the cabbage in half vertically. Peel off the leaves and blanch in boiling water for six to eight minutes, until semi-soft (you may need to do this in batches). Refresh under cold water, drain, pat dry and set aside.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Add the pine nuts, ricotta, herbs and garlic to the rice, season to taste and stir with a fork. Make a parcel with each cabbage leaf, filling it with a generous amount of the rice mix, or make rolls by placing some rice mix at the base of a rectangular piece of cabbage and rolling up (don't worry that the ends are exposed).

Arrange the cabbage parcels close together in an ovenproof dish - use any cabbage offcuts to fill gaps. Mix the tomatoes, wine, sugar and some seasoning, pour this over the parcels, sprinkle with parsley and drizzle with oil. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the sauce is thoroughly bubbling. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for five minutes before serving sprinkled with extra parsley.