Vegan Cabbage Stew with Bulgur and Navy Beans

March 12, 2024

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This vegan cabbage stew with bulgur and navy beans is hearty, healthful, and comforting. It has a brothy tomato base and plenty of texture from chopped cabbage, white beans, and cracked bulgur wheat. This can be a nice soup to make forward—it turns into much more flavorful after a pair days!

An overhead image of a white bowl of red-colored soup, which is filled with bulgur wheat and white beans.

We sprang ahead into springtime this week.

No sooner had we set the clocks an hour earlier (or woken up questioning why it appeared so late), than the climate received very chilly for a day.

And now, out of the blue, it’s heat once more.

Such are the unpredictable ups and downs of spring!

In any case, there’s nonetheless a chill within the air, and for so long as that is still true, it’ll be soup season for me.

And isn’t it almost at all times soup season? It needs to be blazing sizzling outdoors for me to show down a comfy, nutritious bowl, heat bowl of vegan soup.

This explicit soup is filling and filled with texture, which is how I like my soups to be. It additionally options one among my favourite—and, I feel barely underrated—greens: cabbage.

Cabbage soups for the soul

There are such a lot of ways in which I prefer to take pleasure in cabbage: in cabbage pasta, slaw, vegan colcannon, as roasted cabbage steak wedges, and within the type of an excellent, old style pot of braised crimson cabbage.

A wedge of spice-roasted cabbage steak is resting on a small, round plate, drizzled with some white creamy sauce.

However for all of those glorious makes use of for this nutritious vegetable, there’s actually nothing like cabbage in soup.

I first fell in love with cabbage soup after I was writing my cookbook Energy Plates.

There are two soups in there that embrace cabbage: the recipe for ribollita and the recipe for spicy cabbage chickpea soup.

A bowl of spicy cabbage chickpea soup rests on a folded, gray linen napkin.

The latter soup has turn into such a fan favourite that I really selected to share it on this weblog, too.

What I realized in creating these recipes is that cabbage is a superb veggie for soups: agency sufficient to not disintegrate, but additionally tender sufficient to be pleasing.

Cooking cabbage for an extended time frame, which is typical for soups, helps to deliver out its softness and pure sweetness.

Cabbage additionally has substance. I really like folding leafy greens into soups, however chopped or sliced cabbage is undeniably heartier—and each bit as health-giving.

A small head of green cabbage is being cut on a white cutting board.

Cabbage vitamin

I might go on and on concerning the many nutrient properties of a humble head of cabbage. However listed here are some highlights for you:

Vitamin C
Vitamin K1
Phytosterols (plant compounds which will play a job in serving to to scale back levels of cholesterol)
Glucosinolates (these are sulfur-containing plant compounds that is likely to be particularly helpful for coronary heart well being)
Dietary fiber

I give a bit extra element about how splendidly nutrient-dense cabbage is in this publish.

One fast phrase about these glucosinolates talked about above: they turn into biologically energetic when cabbage is crushed, chopped, or chewed.

That’s a part of why it’s an excellent factor that the cabbage on this cabbage stew recipe is chopped up earlier than it’s added to your pot.

What sort of cabbage is finest on this cabbage stew recipe?

I like to recommend utilizing inexperienced, savoy, or napa cabbage for the soup.

Purple cabbage will work from a style perspective, however the combination of its purple colour and the redness of tomatoes would possibly result in a muddy-looking soup!

A grain, a inexperienced, and a bean

Considered one of my favourite methods to consider meal planning is to mix a grain, and inexperienced, and a bean inside any plate or bowl.

Whether or not I’ve meal prepped extensively and have loads of vegan fundamentals in my fridge, or I’m winging it for the week, I’m certain to have a can of beans or a block of tofu, some form of contemporary or frozen inexperienced vegetable, and quite a lot of grains at residence.

Generally making a meal is so simple as grouping these elements collectively right into a bowl and including an ideal sauce or dressing.

Generally it takes the type of a easy grain skillet or pasta dish.

And there are lots of cases during which grains, inexperienced greens, and beans will be changed into a soup.

With inexperienced cabbage because the vegetable, navy, nice northern, or cannellini beans (principally, your white bean of selection) because the plant protein, and bulgur because the grain, this brothy cabbage stew is usually a meal unto itself.

A lift from bulgur wheat

I’m a giant fan of including pasta, from orzo to tortellini, to my soups. However generally I neglect how glorious the various kinds of entire grains will be in a pot of soup.

From quinoa in chili to tomato soup with rice, grains can improve the feel and density of soups and stews so properly. Additionally they add vitamin, after all: numerous fiber, some protein, and extra.

On this explicit cabbage stew, the grain is bulgur wheat.

Bulgur is a type of cracked wheat. It’s possible you’ll be most acquainted with it from tabbouleh or different Mediterranean and Center Japanese dishes. It has a chewy texture and a small form.

Bulgur can also be very nutritious. It’s received an excellent quantity of plant protein in every serving—about six grams—together with fiber, iron, B-vitamins, and folate.

I’ve used bulgur in lots of kinds of recipes. Bulgur can create some texture and density in vegan meatballs or chili. It makes fantastic grain salads, together with my my candy potato bulgur citrus salad and lemony bulgur chickpea salad.

I particularly take pleasure in utilizing bulgur as a stuffing for greens, resembling my bulgur-stuffed eggplants with currants and pine nuts.

Bulgur is typically labeled as effective, coarse, or additional coarse. It might not be labeled in any respect, however normally after I discover it at main grocery shops within the US, it has a effective consistency. I just like the coarse bulgur wheat, too.

The right way to make cabbage stew with bulgur and navy beans

The cabbage stew is a one-pot recipe, which implies that the steps for making ready it are fairly easy. Right here’s how the method goes.

Step 1: Sauté the greens

You’ll start by sautéing in olive oil the greens that play a starring position within the cabbage stew. onion, celery, and carrots go into the pot first and prepare dinner for about 5 minutes.

An overhead image of a silver pot with handles, which is being used to sauté cabbage, celery, and carrots. — Carrots, celery, onion, and cabbage are the foundational veggies on this cabbage stew.

Then, you’ll add your cabbage and prepare dinner it for about ten minutes, or till it’s tender and perhaps simply beginning to brown.

Step 2: Add seasonings

The seasonings for this soup are easy. Tomato paste will deepen the soup’s taste and add some umami, whereas two kinds of paprika add sweetness and smokiness, respectively.

Step 3: Simmer

Lastly, you’ll add the remaining components, that are tomatoes, broth, bulgur, and navy beans, deliver the combination to a boil, and cut back the warmth to low.

An overhead image of a silver pot, filled with navy beans, cabbage, bulgur wheat, and tomatoes. — Bulgur wheat and navy beans contribute protein, fiber, and plenty of nice texture to this hearty and nutritious stew.

Simmer the soup for twenty-five minutes, or till the bulgur is absolutely cooked, but retains its chewy texture.

You’ll lastly season the soup to style with a bit white wine vinegar, in addition to any extra salt or pepper that you just’d like, and serve it.

An overhead image of a silver pot, which is filled with a cabbage, bulgur, and tomato stew. — The completed stew can have a wealthy, tomato-scented broth and plenty of texture.

Variations & additions

There’s already lots occurring within the cabbage stew, because of its grains and beans and components with numerous substance.

Even so, you would possibly want to make it much more of a “kitchen sink” recipe. I feel that any of the next could be enjoyable additions:

If it’s good to make some substitutions, this recipe may accommodate variation. For instance, you possibly can commerce chickpeas for the white beans.

Rather than the bulgur, you would use couscous, one other small pasta form, resembling pastina, or quinoa. Quinoa would make the cabbage stew gluten-free!

The Vegan Week

Embrace the enjoyment of consuming home made meals day-after-day with the hearty and healthful recipes in The Vegan Week.

Whether or not you’ve got three, two, and even only one hour of time to spare, The Vegan Week will present you find out how to batch prepare dinner diversified, colourful, and comforting dishes over the weekend.

Meal prep & storage

Like many kinds of soup or stew, the cabbage stew solely turns into extra flavorful with time. I prefer it finest on the third or fourth day after making ready it.

The soup will be saved in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as six days, and you’ll freeze it for as much as eight weeks. It’s a wonderful, one-pot meal in your weekly vegan meal prep routine.

Make it immediately, or quickly, and revel in rustic, tasty, and nutritious bowls all week lengthy.