Vegan Cabbage Roll Soup

Sep 23

An easy vegan meal for beginners

This is not my mother’s cabbage roll soup. She wanted me to make that clear because I changed the ingredients. And the order I cooked them in. And made it vegan.

So it’s definitely NOT my mother’s cabbage roll soup, but it is part of my own project to make a vegan version of my favourite comfort foods and family recipes. When I was very young we lived in Ontario and my mother would make cabbage rolls from scratch. How this came to be I have no idea as we aren’t from any of the many cultures that make their own versions of things stuffed in cabbage. They were one of my favourite things as a child (yes, I was the kid who loved cabbage, broccoli, and asparagus).

As anyone who has made cabbage rolls knows, they’re a lot of work. Over time the homemade cabbage rolls became store bought, then it became cabbage roll casserole, and finally it became soup.

I never had a chance to try my mother’s cabbage roll soup as she only started making it after I went vegan. So making my own version of it was mostly just hoping for the best. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s even better the next day so a perfect dish to make ahead if you’re going to a potluck or dinner party and want to bring a hearty vegan dish to share.

Makes: about 3 litres, depending on your love of soup it’s about 3-4 servings as an entree and 6 as a side dish. Also stores well in the freezer.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 pkg (340g) of Beyond Beef Plant-Based Ground
salt & pepper to taste
1 medium sized yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 1/2 cups chopped cabbage, packed
3 cloves of garlic, diced
500 ml Beef-less broth*
1 - 396 ml can tomato sauce*
1 - 396 ml can diced tomatoes*
1/2 Tbsp the Wizard's Gluten Free Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano, dried
1/2 tsp thyme, dried
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup brown rice

*Note to Americans or cross-border shoppers, 500 ml of broth is 2 cups, and the closest size for tomato sauce & dice is 14.5 oz

This soup will fill a 3 quart/2.96 litre pot almost to the brim. You will question if you should have used a bigger pot. So if you have a heavy bottomed 4 or 5 L pot maybe go with that. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

First thing I would recommend doing is getting your mise en place together. Which is the French way of getting all your ingredients set up before you start cooking. You’ll be adding things in stages so the way I would recommend putting it together (with the least amount of cleanup) is this:

*Your mise en place doesn't have to be fancy, and even better if you use dishes you can throw in the dishwasher afterwards!*

1 plate with diced carrot & onion
1 plate with garlic, paprika, oregano, and thyme
a measuring cup with your packed cabbage
a measuring cup with your broth & Wizard sauce

Put your heavy bottomed pot on medium heat and add in 1 Tbsp of olive oil. When the oil starts to shimmer add in the package of Beyond Beef plant-based ground breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper. You want to slightly “brown” the beyond beef, but don’t be alarmed when you see a lot of liquid come out of it. Just get it cooked, the less you move it in the pot the more you’ll get a nice brown. Once browned remove to a plate, you’ll add this back at the end.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pot, it should be hot pretty quickly. Add to that your diced onion and carrot. Give it a stir and then let it sit to cook until the onions get glossy and slightly soft.

Next add in your garlic, paprika, oregano, and thyme stirring to mix everything together. Let this cook for another minute or two before adding in your cabbage stirring once more. Leave the veggies to cook for about 5 minutes until the cabbage gets soft and it starts smelling really good.

You’re now ready for the liquid. Add in the beef-less broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and Wizard sauce. Return the Beyond Beef you browned to the pot. Carefully stir it together if you went with a smaller pot so it doesn’t spill. Add in a great big bay leaf (yes, it does actually do something), and bring it to a boil. You’re looking for a consistent bubble not a full rolling boil.

Once you’ve hit the boiling stage reduce the temperature to low, add in the rice, cover and let it cook for 25-30 minutes.

That’s it, you just need to serve it and you’re done.

You’ll notice that the veggies and rice still have some firmness to them, they shouldn’t be total mush. Also the next day after you’ve refrigerated the leftovers (if there are leftovers) it will be thicker. If you want to thin it out just add a little water when you reheat.

This isn’t sponsored at all but in case you’re trying to find the products I’m using at the grocery store here is what the packaging looks like for the beef-less broth, Wizard sauce and Beyond Beef plant-based ground.