Stuffed Cabage Roll Soup

This is one of childhood dishes that my mom use to make for us. The simple filling for this dish is ground pork and onions. My version of cabbage rolls is much better tasting than the original recipe because I use Gio Song instead of ground pork. It helps the broth to be clearer. I make my own sausages, Gio Song, by using chicken meat instead of pork. This makes the cabbage rolls a healthier, less-fattening dish.  Ingredients:

The filling:
1 oz bean thread noodles (cellophane)
3 dried wood ear mushrooms or shitake mushrooms, soaked
1 cup uncooked Vietnamese sausage, Gio Song, or ground pork
3 garlic, minced
1/2 cup white onions, minced
1 tbs fish sauce
1/2 tsp salt, pepper

Cabbage and Broth:
1/2 small white cabbage or about 10 outer leaves
10 onion chives or scallions, green part only
1/4 cup minced onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
4 cups water that use to blanch cabbage leaves
4 cups chicken broth
Garnish
Sliced green onion and chopped cilantro

Directions:
Soak cellophane noodles and wood ear mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. Drain. Coarsely chop these ingredients.
In salted boiling water, drop the cabbage leaves and cook for 1 minute. Remove.
In the same pot of boiling water, blanch the onion chives or green onions for a few seconds. Refresh both cabbages and onion chives with cold water. Drain.

To make filling:
In a mixing bowl, combine the filling ingredients and mix well.
Assembling the cabbage rolls:
Fill each cabbage leaf with a generous tbs of filling mixture.

Roll up the leaf to seal the filling.

Use the onion chives to tie around each roll to secure the leaf. Continues until all the cabbage leaves are rolled up.

Making the broth:
Heat oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic. Sauté for 1 min. Season with salt, pepper. Add water and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add cabbage rolls. Turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with fish sauce and sugar.

Ladle the soup into a bowl. Garnish with green onions and cilantro. Serve with a bowl of rice or noodles.