Dilled Cabbage Soup with Rice

Jeremy Shaw

From Lorna Sass’ Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure: A pressure cooker recipe, but may also be cooked in a large soup pot for 3 times as long…

Ingredients

2 teaspoons cooking oil

2 cups onions — coarsely chopped

6 cups vegetable stock — boiling (not necessary, but speeds the process)

1/2 cup white rice — basmati or extra long grain rice, (or 1/3c quinoa)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 large bay leaves

4 whole peppercorns

1 teaspoon salt — or to taste

1 tablespoon dried dill — ~3TB fresh chopped (but I add in way more at the end, adding 1/3c extra or so, to taste; make it taste good to you!)

2 1/2 pounds cabbage — cored & quartered

3 large carrots — halve carrots lengthwise & thinly slice

2 large celery ribs — thinly sliced

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (or wine/flavored vinegar of choice, citrus juice) — (up to 3 tsp, to taste)

Heat the oil in the cooker. Cook the onions over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute. (If time permits and you are so inclined, sweat the onions, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, to bring out their sweetness.)

Add the stock (stand back to avoid sputtering oil), rice, tomato paste, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt, dill, cabbage, carrots, and celery.

Lock the lid in place. Over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 5 minutes [15 minutes if using regular soup pot]. Reduce the pressure with a quick release method. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape.

Remove the bay leaves and peppercorns (if you happen to notice them). Add vinegar to taste. Stir well when serving to distribute the rice, which tends to sink to the bottom.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 244 Calories; 5g Fat (16.4% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 45g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 2mg Cholesterol; 1581mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 3 Vegetable; 1 Fat.

NOTE: Don’t be concerned if the cabbage reaches to the top of the cooker. It will shrink dramatically as it heats up, allowing sufficient space for the pressure to rise.