Asian Stuffed Cabbage

"These aren't too labor intensive for a birthday meal, are they?"

When my husband asked me that question when I served these for dinner the first time, I knew I had hit the jackpot. I was already fairly certain. After all, the recipe has some of my favorite ingredients in the Asian-inspired sauce - sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce - and I have always loved stuffed cabbage. The thing is that prior to this recipe, I had never actually made stuffed cabbage. In my head, it was way too labor intensive. In reality, for me, the most labor intensive part was cleaning the cabbage leaves. And really, that wasn't a big deal. I did have to watch a video to make sure I was rolling them right (I found this quick one to be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-OAM89WulQ) but beyond that, this recipe is surprisingly easy. And offer the sauce as a dipping option. It was a huge hit.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1 cup cooked brown rice or quinoa (I used quinoa)
• 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons ginger, minced
• 1 small onion, minced
• 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon chili or chili-garlic sauce (found in the Asian section of your grocery store)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• leaves from 1 large head of Napa cabbage

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare your filling by gently combining uncooked beef (or turkey), shredded carrots, cooked rice (or quinoa), garlic, ginger, onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, chili sauce and a pinch of salt and black pepper in a large mixing bowl.
3. To make your leaves easy to roll, use a rolling pin to flatten to make leaves more pliable. If you find that your leaves are on the smaller side, use two to roll, overlapping both ends to make one big leaf.
4. Spoon your filling to each leaf. Carefully roll each leaf tightly and place side by side in a large baking dish. Pour 1 cup of water over stuffed cabbage rolls and cover with aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes or until completely cooked through.
5. Serve with juices from baking dish and additional chili sauce.

Difficulty: easy-medium

Time: about 50 minutes total

Source: http://aggieskitchen.com/asian-stuffed-napa-cabbage-rolls/