Bulgur-beef stuffed turnip cabbages is a wonderful meal, which uses, often ignored turnip cabbage. This delicious vegetable is stuffed with a combination of bulgur, beef, tomato, leek, cheese and garlic and then finished in the oven. It’s a quick but gorgeous and tasty dish. Perfect to enjoy on Sundays.
Do you know turnip cabbage? Have you ever bought it? Turnip cabbage, also known as kohlrabi or German turnip, is a funny, almost alien-looking, vegetable, with long stems and leaves shooting out of the bulb. You can find it in green, white or purple colour. It belongs to the broccoli and cabbage family.
In addition, turnip cabbage is so underrated, in my opinion. I believe people have no idea how to prepare it. It can be eaten raw or cooked in a variety of dishes. In fact, you can create almost anything with it, from salads to soups. Since the peel can be bitter and unpleasant, make sure you peel it first.
The bulb can be sliced, cubed or diced, steamed, roasted or sauteed. It can be served mashed as a side dish or pureed into a soup. To enjoy it raw, the best way is to slice it into thin slices with a mandoline or cut a la julienne into matchsticks. And, just like in this recipe, it can be also hollowed out and stuffed with different stuffings, before baking.
You might also like these stuffed vegetables recipes: hummus stuffed baked sweet potato, this colourful spinach-quinoa stuffed butternut squash, vegetarian couscous stuffed roasted pumpkin, these fun meat stuffed zucchini or these cheese and pesto stuffed tomatoes.
Besides being so versatile, it’s also budget-friendly. Compared to other vegetables, turnip cabbage is one of the cheapest on the market. The flesh is similar to that from a turnip but is sweeter and milder. Kohlrabi has a crispy texture and is a juicy and fresh addition to your salads and slaws, too.
Another thing that I noticed at the supermarket is, that people always remove the whole stalks and leaves from turnip cabbage before buying it. Don’t be like them. Wink. Bulb, stalks and leaves are all edible. And the leaves also indicate the freshness of turnip cabbage. The stalks and leaves can be frozen for later use. In fact, you can make a wonderful pesto, soup or risotto out of them. I actually made pesto and added it to a risotto. Wonderful.
Ingredients for two beef-bulgur stuffed turnip cabbages:
- 2 turnip cabbages (or kohlrabi)
- walnut oil
- 200 g ground beef
- 1/3 leek
- 2 garlic cloves
- 50 g bulgur
- 600 ml vegetable broth
- 100 g grated cheese
- 150 g cream cheese
- fresh parsley
- salt and pepper
- 6 cherry or Roma tomatoes
To begin, wash and peel the turnip cabbages. Using a small carving knife, carve the flesh out, leaving 1 cm thick walls and bottom. In order to properly scoop out the flesh, use a teaspoon. Place them in a larger pot, cover them halfway up with water and bring to a boil. Then, cover with a lid, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. After the turnip cabbage is almost tender, remove it from the pot and allow it to cool down.
In the meantime, peel and slice the garlic. Chop the scooped flesh and wash and chop the leek. In a small pot, add bulgur, cover with water and cook for 15 minutes or until the water evaporates. When the bulgur is tender, transfer it into a bowl.
Furthermore, in a larger frying pan with higher walls, drizzle some walnut oil. Once hot, add leek, chopped kohlrabi and garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes. Then, stir in the beef and brown it. After the meat has a lovely brown colour, remove from the heat and stir in the bulgur, two diced tomatoes and half of the cream cheese. Season to taste.
Next, preheat the oven to 200º C and stuff the turnip cabbage by alternating the grated cheese and the bulgur-beef stuffing. Keep the rest of the stuffing in the pan. Then, place the stuffed turnip cabbages into a baking dish, add the vegetable broth, cover with aluminium foil and put it in the oven for 30-40 minutes. At the same time, add also the remaining tomatoes to a small oven-proof cup in the oven until burst.
Afterwards, remove the foil, top the turnip cabbages with some more cheese and keep in the oven for 5 more minutes. You can turn on the grill function for the last 2 minutes.
Mix the remaining stuffing with the second half of cream cheese and a couple of spoons of beef broth from the baking dish.
Finally, arrange the bulgur-beef stuffed turnip cabbages and some of the remaining stuffing onto the plates. Add the oven burst tomatoes and garnish with fresh parsley.
Enjoy.
