Recipe Saturday : Tomato & Cabbage stew

Hi guys! Back here again with my usual Saturday recipe. I had another recipe in mind for today’s post but I had to have one of my wisdow teeth pulled out yesterday so remaking my veggie protein bowl for today’s lunch would have been a pain for my teeth. Instead, I decided to make one of my favorite dishes with one of my favorite types of rice ever.

In catalán, this dish would be referred as “brothy rice” (Arròs caldós). It’s usually made with seafood and with fish broth. Arròs caldós just means rice with some broth, so what I did today was that. I made some veggie broth with tomatoes and cabbage and then added the rice like one would do with the non-vegetarian version of the dish.

Difficulty: 2/5	Prep time : 5 minutes
Type : 1 pot meal	Cook time: 40 to 50 minutes

Ingredients

Serves 2 (and a bit of leftovers)

• 2 small onions (diced)
• 2 cups of cabbage (diced)
• 1 can of peeled tomatoes
• 1 cup of rice
• 3 cloves of garlic (mashed)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of oregan
• 1 tablespoon of laurel
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of “veggie broth powder” (I use this one)
• 4 cups of water (minimum)

Method

1. In a large pot, reheat the olive oil while you dice the onions. Dice the onions in a medium size, and put them in the pot.
2. Cook onions for 2-3 minutes, until they start to brown. Stir well.
3. Add the cabbage and continue stirring. Add the spices now (laurel, oregan and salt)

1. Cook for 5 minutes while stirring and once the cabbage starts browning, add the can of omatoes and the garlic. Mix well.
2. Add the 2 tablespoons of the veggie broth powder. Mix well
3. Bring to a boil and start smashing the tomatoes while you mix everything together. Cook for 10 minutes at medium heat.
4. Add the rice. Mix well.
5. Add the 4 cups of water.

1. Cover with a lid and let the whole thing cook at lower heat for at least 15 minutes (This particular rice I used takes longer than the usual to cook). If you notice that the broth gets absorbed by the rice, don’t hesitate to add extra cups of water. I used a total of 6 cups but started with only 4.

The end result should be quite “brothy”, you should have a big ratio of broth/rice. If you think it’s losing a bit of the flavor by adding water, don’t hesitate to add extra broth powder. The rice texture should be a bit mushy but not much! It should still have a bit of its consistency.

I had to let my plate cool off a lot before eating it (I cannot eat anything warm for 48h due to my wisdow tooth being removed). My boyfriend could enjoy this meal warm and in its full flavor and intensity. The smell of the dish reminded me of a pizza stew because of the tomato & oregano smell, but it was so good and it feel like home (even if I had mine rather “cold”).

If I hadn’t been in the “tooth-removal” situation, I would have definitely added some spiciness to this dish! What would you have changed? What are your favorite rice-based recipes? Tell me all in the comments!

I hope you are all having a nice weekend! And see you next week!