Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup
Cabbage, beef, rice, and tomato in one pot. Stuffed cabbage without the folding.
- calories
- 470
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 34
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 900 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow onion | 1/2, chopped | |
| Garlic | 3 cloves, minced | a spoon of jarred garlic works and keeps |
| Ground beef | 1/2 lb | |
| Ground pork | 1/2 lb | or another half pound of beef |
| Carrots | 2, diced | |
| Tomato sauce | 1 14.5-oz can | |
| Diced tomatoes | 1 14.5-oz can, drained | |
| Beef bouillon | 4 cubes or 4 tsp base | replaces two cans of broth; add 900 ml water |
| White rice | 1/2 cup, uncooked | long grain, not instant |
| Green cabbage | about 4 cups, chopped | half a small head |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 tbsp | |
| Paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp |
Method
- Set a dutch oven or a deep pot on the grate over a bed of coals, not open flame. Warm the oil and cook the onion until it goes soft and clear, about five minutes.
- Add the garlic for a minute, then the beef and pork. Break it up and brown it. Pour off the fat if there is a lot of it.
- Stir in the carrots, both cans of tomato, 900 ml of water, the bouillon, rice, bay leaf, Worcestershire, and paprika.
- Bring it to a boil, then pull the pot to the edge of the coals so it barely simmers. Lid on, 15 minutes.
- Pack in the cabbage. It will look like too much and then it will not be. Simmer another 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is soft and the cabbage has collapsed.
- Fish out the bay leaf. Add salt, then the parsley.
This is a stuffed cabbage roll that gave up on rolling. The filling and the wrapper go in the same pot, and the rice cooks in the tomato broth instead of being parboiled and stuffed. That trades an hour of assembly for one pot, which is the whole reason it belongs at a campsite.
Two changes from a kitchen version. Canned broth is heavy and mostly water, so bouillon plus water from the jug does the same job at a fraction of the weight. The rice goes in before the cabbage because it needs twice as long; reverse that order and you get mush wrapped around crunchy grains. Coals over flame matters too, since rice on the bottom of a hot pot scorches fast.
Packing
Cabbage is the bulky part; buy it the morning you leave and it will hold days without a cooler. Meat goes in the cooler, frozen flat, and thaws on the drive. Bouillon, rice, and spices live in one bag so the whole dinner is two grabs.
Variations
- Swap both meats for a pound of bulk sausage and skip the paprika.
- No cooler: use two foil pouches of chicken or a can of corned beef, added at the end.
- A splash of cider vinegar and a spoon of brown sugar at the finish moves it toward the sweet-and-sour version.
https://www.pinchmeimeating.com/unstuffed-cabbage-roll-soup