Ingredients
- Version #1-without meat, you’ll need:
- 1 big soup pot
- 1 large onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 large head savoy cabbage, shredded
- Carrots, shredded, if desired
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Pepper and salt
- Vegetable seasoning (soup starter – “Vegeta” or “Kucharek”)
- Whole peppercorns
- Whole allspice
- Bay leaves
- Dried wild mushrooms
- Caraway seeds if desired
- Kitchen Bouquet or Maggi browning liquid seasoning
- An apple if desired
- 1 glass jar European-style sauerkraut with carrots (or homemade sauerkraut from a Polish Deli)
- Brown sugar
Preparation
Step 1
Mince a clove of garlic, and slice a large onion (about ¼” thick). Fry in a deep pot in olive oil and butter (half and half). Use enough oil to coat the vegetables. Add a little pepper for flavor as they are frying. Fry and stir enough so they become carmelized. The brown bits that stick to the pan are very important. Do not burn!
When all of the frying is done, add the shredded cabbage (and apple and carrots if using) to the pot. Fill the pot with cold water so that the cabbage is just about covered. Put in about 10 peppercorns, 3 allspice, 4 bay leaves, a teaspoon of salt. Add about 4 dried mushrooms for flavor. Add about ½ teaspoon caraway seeds, if desired. I (Bruce) put in 2 T. vegetable seasoning like “Vegeta” (from the Polish Import store on 15 & Dequindre, 19 & Van Dyke (Bozek’s) or 22 & Hayes). Alternately, you could add some Knorr vegetable boullion cubes. Then I add some Maggi or Kitchen Bouquet browning liquid for flavor and color. Maybe a tablespoon or so.
Bring to a boil and cook slowly for about 30 minutes without a cover. The idea is for the water to evaporate and concentrate the flavors. Cook until the cabbage becomes somewhat tender. Add the jar of sauerkraut. Here is the tricky part. If you like the sauerkraut sharp, do not rinse, and add the liquid as well. For a milder, sweeter sauerkraut, do not add the liquid from the jar; just the kraut. If you plan to make a sharper sauerkraut, use less liquid in the initial cooking because you will add the sauerkraut liquid.
Cook the whole thing, again without a cover, for another 35-40 minutes. Everything should be tender, and most of the liquid boiled out. I add 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar before it is done cooking.
Version #2-with meat:
Begin by peppering and browning a package of country ribs or 4 pork chops, or a pork shoulder in a deep pan. Use olive oil and butter if necessary, but not too much. The meat must be browned in the cooking pan so that the brown bits stick to the pot and add flavor to the kapusta in the cooking process. You can still add the onions and garlic, make sure it browns too. Then add the ingredients as above, leaving the meat in the pot. You need to cook it until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. Everything else is the same.
If the kapusta is too watery, you may drain it some before serving. If you made it with meat, you can pull out the meat, cut it into small pieces, and mix back in.
Serving suggestion: Add smoked kielbasa to the kapusta and heat through on the stove or bake in a baking dish. You can also add fresh (unsmoked) kielbasa, but it should be roasted or fried before adding to the kapusta.
It is really best to make this a day or so beforehand. It gets better with age. Keep refrigerated or may be frozen.