Sauerkraut & Mushrooms

Sauerkraut & Mushrooms  is often one of the dishes  for Wigilia (Christmas Eve) when meat is not eaten.

Ingredients

• 1 large jar  of sauerkraut – around 800 – 900g.
• 20 – 30g of dried mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons of plain flour
• Butter or oil for frying the onion
• Ground black pepper
• *
• The acidity of sauerkraut varies very much and homemade is often not as acid.
• Rinsing bottled sauerkraut before use will lower the acidity.
• *
• The amount of  sugar  you add to the dish is a personal preference – if rinsed 1 tablespoon should be enough – if not rinsed you might need around 3 tablespoons.

Method

The evening before you want to make this dish place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water and leave them overnight.

• Cut the reconstituted mushrooms into strips.
• Put the strips and the liquor into a saucepan and simmer them for around 5 minutes.
• Drain the sauerkraut and keep the liquid (you might want to use it to adjust the acidity of the dish).
• Rinse the sauerkraut with cold water.
• Place the sauerkraut in a large saucepan and pour boiling water over it until it just covers it.

• Add the sugar.
• Bring to the boil and then cover the saucepan with a lid and let it gently simmer for around 10  minutes.
• Add the mushrooms to the sauerkraut and mix together.
• Continue heating either gently on top of the stove or put the pan with the lid into a low to medium oven.
• Cook until the sauerkraut is soft.
• Fry the onions until they are golden.
• Sprinkle the flour over the onions and heat gently to brown the flour.

• Add spoonfuls of liquid from the sauerkraut mixture to the onion mix.
• Stir and heat to form a thickening roux/paste.
• Add this to the sauerkraut mixture and mix throughly .
• You can then serve this straight away or put it back in the oven for around 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle ground black pepper on the top before serving.

• Served here in Carnation by Royal Doulton, 1982 – 1998.
• Serve with rye bread or boiled potatoes and hot roast pork or cooked Polish sausages.
• For Wigilia (Christmas Eve ) this  would just be served as a separate dish.