Savoy cabbage cake with brown rice and red lentils

In short: Savoy cabbage, brown rice and red lentils with tomato and paprika, in layers. Cut it into wedges, it is good cold too and can be made the evening before. Fresh cherry tomatoes on the side.

Serves: 4. 85 minutes.

Cavolo verza, Lenticchie svizzere, Cipolla, Carota, Pomodoro, Alloro

Ingredients

• 700 g small Savoy cabbage (1 piece: you need 8 large leaves and 300 g of the heart)
• 200 g of brown rice
• 240 g of hulled red lentils
• 120 g onion (1 piece)
• 100 g carrot (1 piece)
• 40 g of tomato paste
• 4 g of sweet paprika
• 0.4 g bay leaves (2 leaves)
• 600 g homemade vegetable stock, celery-free
• 200 g of cherry tomatoes
• 30 g of rapeseed oil (15 g for the sauté, 10 g for the tin and the leaves, 5 g for the cherry tomatoes)
• 5 g of salt (4 g for the filling, 1 g for the cherry tomatoes)
• 1 g freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Boil the brown rice in plenty of lightly salted water for 30-35 minutes (check the time on the package). Drain it well.
2. Meanwhile detach 8 large leaves from the cabbage, remove the hard central rib with a V-shaped cut and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling water. Cool them under cold water and dry them. Slice 300 g of the heart thinly.
3. Chop the onion and dice the carrot. In a saucepan heat 15 g of oil and soften them for 5 minutes. Add the sliced cabbage and cook another 5 minutes.
4. Add the tomato paste and the paprika, stir for 1 minute, then add the rinsed red lentils, the bay leaves and the stock. Cook for 12-15 minutes without a lid, stirring often: it should become a thick, dry cream. Remove the bay leaves, add 4 g of salt, the pepper and the drained rice, and mix.
5. Heat the oven to 190 °C. With 5 g of oil, grease a 22 cm cake tin and line it with 5 cabbage leaves, letting them hang over the edge. Pour in the filling, press it down well with the back of a spoon, fold the leaves over and close with the 3 remaining leaves. Brush with 5 g of oil.
6. Bake for 25 minutes covered with a sheet of baking paper, then 10 minutes uncovered: the leaves on top should dry out and darken at the edges. Let rest for 10 minutes, turn out onto a plate and cut into 8 wedges.
7. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters, dress them with 5 g of oil and 1 g of salt and serve them next to 2 wedges of cake.
8. For the lunch box: cool quickly and put in the fridge within two hours; it keeps for two days. The rice has already been cooked twice: in the lunch box eat the cake cold or at room temperature, without reheating it, with the cherry tomatoes on the side. In the fridge or in a cool bag until lunch, to be eaten the same day. Always check the label of packaged ingredients.

Updated on 25 October 2026