The Best Vegan Cabbage Rolls

These South-East Asian inspired cabbage rolls have become one of my favourite vegan dishes. They are packed with vegetables like mushrooms, leek, carrot and peas - but really, you can add any veggies you like and this is a great way of using up what you have in the fridge. All cooked with rice and seasoned with sesame oil and soy sauce and your stuffing is ready. I recommend using Chinese cabbage or sweetheart cabbage as the leaves are very tender and don’t need much cooking/frying time. Served with a sweet soy dipping sauce this dish is a delicious snack or starter.

If you have made this recipe, I am excited to hear your feedback or tag me in your pictures on social.

Ingredients
About 10-15 cabbage rolls (depending on the size of your cabbage)

1 sweetheart cabbage or Chinese cabbage
1/2 leek
1 large carrot
120 g shiitake mushrooms (or alternatively chestnut mushrooms)
big handful of frozen peas (or alternatively edamame beans)
100 g basmati or yasmin rice
3 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp low salt soy sauce
olive oil
salt
sesame seeds for garnish

For the sauce:

3 tbsp low salt soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp honey

Method

Finely cut 1/2 leek and 120 g shiitake mushrooms. Grate or finely dice 1 large carrot.
Cut the root off the cabbage.
Wash and rinse 100 g rice. Add rice, 1.5 tsp salt and about 750 ml water to a medium-sized saucepan and bring water to the boil. Bring temperature down to a simmer and cook rice for about 15 minutes or until “al dente”. Rinse rice using a sieve.
Place a sieve on top of a saucepan with boiling water (I always place the sieve on top of the cooking rice) then place the cabbage into the sieve. The steam will soften the leaves which makes it easier to take them off one by one without damaging them. Take the cabbage out when you get to the core with the smaller leaves. Chop those finely - they will become part of the filling.
Add a glug of olive oil to a large frying pan, bring it to medium heat, add leek and a generous pinch of salt and fry for about 5 minutes until leek has softened. Transfer leek to a plate, add a bit more olive oil.
Now add mushrooms to the pan and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until all water is released.
Add 3 tbsp sesame oil to the pan, then return leek along with the chopped cabbage, carrot and a handful of frozen peas. Fry all for 5 minutes on medium heat.
Add the rice and 4 tbsp low salt soy sauce. Stirr all well and cook on low heat for 3 more minutes.
To fill the cabbage leaves, place them in front of you with the root end facing up. Place 2-3 tbsp of rice onto the lower (wider) end, fold both sides towards the middle as you would with a burrito wrap. Now, tightly roll the lower end all the way up. If some rolls don’t seem stable enough, you can use a toothpick to hold the roll together.