POLISH KAPUSTA RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• Place dry mushrooms in a bowl and cover them with hot boiling water. Let them soak for 5 minutes.
• Peel, wash and cut into chunks, your vegetables (carrots, parsnip, celery root, leeks, and parsley);
• Place your vegetables and soaked mushrooms* (see notes below) in the large pot, cover with 10 cups of water, add a tablespoon of salt, bay leaves, and allspice and boil for about 30 minutes, uncovered;
• Prepare beets - peel them and slice in 1/2 inch slices; peel your garlic and slice the apple;
• Add beets, garlic, apple, and spices (salt, sugar, and marjoram) to the vegetable broth. At this time add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of lemon to preserve the beautiful color from the beets. Cook it for another half hour, uncovered;
• Add the remaining vinegar, and adjust seasoning with vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper, as needed.
• Discard all the vegetables and use a strainer to pour your borscht either into mugs to drink or to bowls to be served with mushroom pierogi.

Steps:

• [if using frozen mushrooms] Thaw the mushrooms, ideally overnight. Cut them into fine pieces.
• [if using dried mushrooms] Place the mushrooms in a bowl, cover with hot water and soak for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight. Retrieve from the water and chop finely.
• [if using fresh mushrooms] Chop the mushrooms finely into small pieces.
• Squeeze the juices out of the sauerkraut and chop it roughly.
• Peel the onion, chop it finely. Peel the apple and grate it using the largest holes of the box grater.
• Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a deep frying pan. Add in chopped onion and fry it over medium heat until translucent.
• Add in the sauerkraut and spices: a generous pinch of ground pepper, a tablespoon of soy sauce, half a tablespoon of ground caraway, 3-4 allspice berries, 3-4 bay leaves and half a teaspoon of honey. If your sauerkraut isn’t overly salty, add a pinch of salt as well. Stir and fry together for 2-3 minutes.
• Add mushrooms and grated apple, stir it in and fry together for a minute.
• Pour in the stock or wine, and bring to a high heat (any liquid on the pan should start to boil). Add dried cranberries, reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Take the lid off and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes, allowing the excess liquid to evaporate. If you see that it’s still watery, continue cooking until you’re happy with the consistency.
• Add chopped parsley, and stir it in. Cook together for a minute or two.
• As you stir, you might want to fish out all of the all-spice berries and bay leaves.
• Serve immediately or leave to cool down and use as a filling for other dishes.