Varză călită (cabbage stew)
A vegetarian cabbage stew, easy to make and very delicious
Servings: 5
Equipment
- Deep pan or wok (with lid)
Ingredients
- 1 cabbage head medium size
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 onion medium/large
- 1 carrot optional
- 1 tomato
- 1 tbsp tomato sauce/paste canned
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil preferably not olive oil
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparation
- Chop the onion, red pepper, tomato, (carrot)
- Shred the cabbage head as for coleslaw (stripes, not chopped),
Cooking
- Add the chopped onion and red pepper in the pan/wok, with 3 tablespoons of oil, over medium heat. Optionally you can add one chopped carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally until onion becomes translucent - make sure it does not start browning.1 red bell pepper, 1 onion, 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- Add chopped tomato (cubes) to the pan. Stir and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes1 tomato
- Add the tomato paste/sauce and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.1 tbsp tomato sauce/paste
- Start adding shredded cabbage to the pan, stirring slowly. If it doesn’t fit all at once, start by adding only a part of it, stir to homogenise, and let it cook under lid, stirring occasionally. As the cabbage reduces, keep adding shredded cabbage until you’ve added all of it. Season to taste with salt and pepper (can add other spices if you want, such as paprika).1 cabbage head, salt, black pepper
- Switch to low heat, put the lid on the pan (a glass lid is better, you can see it cooking) and let it cook slowly for 20-30 minutes. The cabbage will release water and the lid will help steaming it. Every 10 minutes lift the lid and stir, but not too vigorously (do not crush the cabbage).
- Turn the heat off, take the lid off and let it to rest and ‘settle’
Notes
This is the vegetarian recipe, but it can be made with meat as well. Ideally you’d use smoked sausages or smoked ham, you add the meat ingredients to cook at the beginning, before adding the cabbage.
Optionally, you can put chopped carrot (one) at step 1
