Traditional Finnish cabbage bake with hearty puy lentils

A Finnish favourite dish that is easy to make, healthy and very easy on the wallet.

Cabbage is such a cheap ingredient, and I like it because it reminds me of Finland and Finnish food: at school and at home we'd be served cabbage soup, cabbage rolls, cabbage stew... And this recipe for a cabbage bake is maybe the most delicious cabbage I have ever eaten. Instead of old-fashioned ground beef this recipe uses gorgeous puy lentils that have a lovely bite to them.

Fun facts I googled about the health-benefits of cabbage: it contains vitamins C and K, folate as well as the cancer-preventing compounds sulforaphane, isothiocyanate and indoles.

Vegetarian cabbage bake with lentils

200 ml whole grain Fair Trade rice
2 organic onions
1 organic garlic clove
1 L vegetable stock (or water + 1 tbsp soy sauce)
200 ml organic green puy lentils
700g cabbage (roughly half of a big head of cabbage)
250 ml oat or soy cream
Salt, white pepper and marjoram to taste

Slice onions and garlic, chop the cabbage. Boil your rice and lentils in the vegetable stock for 20 minutes. Add cabbage and let boil for another 10 minutes. Finally, toss in the onions and garlic, then add cream and spices. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. 

Pour the mixture over into a greased, ovenproof dish like a lasagna pan, and bake for about an hour at 170°C.