Stuffed Cabbage With Pepper & Tomato Goulash

This is another recipe from Rocco Dispirito's book The Negative Calorie Diet.  

I've never made stuffed cabbage before but after I fell in love with the eggplant roll ups I considered it a moral imperative to at least try this.  

Ingredients

1 head savoy cabbage, core removed(I used Nappa because I couldn't find savoy)

Olive oil cooking spray

16 oz 96% lean ground beef(I used 90% lean ground turkey)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup minced onions

1 cup chopped red bell peppers

1/2 cup no-salt added chickpeas(garbanzo beans)

1 cup no-salt added beef stock

1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes

1 Tbsp Hungarian paprika(I used smoked paprika)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Place the cabbage on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high until the leaves pull off easily, around two minutes per layer.  Reserve 8 whole leaves and chop the remaining cabbage.

Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat.  Season the beef with salt and pepper.  Cook until done and transfer to a plate.  

Add the onions, bell peppers, and chopped cabbage  to the skillet and cook until softened, around 3-5 minutes.  

Add the resevered beef and the chickpeas and season again.  Add the stock, tomatoes, and paprika and simmer until thickened.  Turn off the heat.  

Lay the cabbage leaves out on a clean work surface.  Strain the beef mixture through a colander, reserving the liquid.  Transfer the sauce to a large baking dish.  

Working one at a time, evenly spoon the beef mixture onto each cabbage leaf, fold the sides over the filling, and roll into a pouch.  Place each roll seam side down in the baking dish.  Transfer to the oven and cook 10 minutes or until cabbage is tender and the filling is hot.  

I had a little difficulty getting the Nappa to fold over properly.  It was due to the hard stem so I cut a triangle out at the bottom as seen below.  I think this would've been way easier with a savoy had I been able to find it.  

It was still a little messy and tedious as the leaves are very fragile but it's not something that really bothers me.  

This serves 4.  This comes to 4 pts for the beef version and 3 pts per serving for the turkey version I made.  

The verdict?

I like this.  I don't LOVE it but I did like it.  I think next time I would add some cayenne because I was missing the heat.  

My only other issue was that the outer shell, the large leaf of the cabbage was a little bitter.  

Even though the stuffing contained the cabbage it didn't seem so bitter.  

Again, until today I'd never really had stuffed cabbage and am not a cabbage expert.  Perhaps the savoy he suggested is less bitter or maybe it's an acquired taste.  

I certainly think it's always a good thing to broaden your horizons and try something new.

You won't know if you like it until you try it and I encourage you to do so!

Happy Cooking!