Bacon and Rice Cabbage Rolls

By Rhea

Ingredients

• 1 large head of green cabbage (freeze overnight then thaw)
• 5 cups slightly under-cooked sticky rice (about 2 cups uncooked) 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons margarine
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 tin tomato soup
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup water

Preparation

Step 1

1. In a large bowl, combine the rice, salt and pepper.

2. In a small frying pan on medium-low heat, melt the 2 tablespoons of margarine. Add the onion and fry until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the onion mixture to the bowl of rice.

3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the tin of tomato soup, the 1/2 cup of margarine, and the water. Cook until the margarine is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. This tomato sauce will be used to spread over each layer of cabbage rolls.

4. Line bottom of roaster with leaves. Place the cabbage rolls in the roaster so that they're quite snug, and after you complete a layer of cabbage rolls, ladle on some of the tomato soup mixture. Top with all of the remaining tomato soup mixture.

5.Preheat oven to 350 F. Cover the roaster with a lid or with tin foil and bake for about 2 hours, or until the cabbage leaves are tender when they're pricked with a fork.

Variations:

-Tomato rice filling: Make these cabbage rolls even more tomato-y by cooking the rice in equal parts water and tomato juice.
-Mushroom rice filling: Simply add 1 to 2 cups of chopped and cooked mushrooms to the rice.
-Bacon rice filling: Add 1 cup of crispy cooked bacon to the rice.