Duszona kapusta is usually translated as braised cabbage. However it literally means suffocated cabbage, which I think is a lovely phrase. It indicates that the dish is cooked with the minimum amount of liquid with a lid on the pan whilst it is cooking.
A few months ago Mari (Mariana) who blogs as gourmermarichef.com posted her recipe for duszona kapusta. So I thought I would add my versions.
I used sweetheart cabbage as I really like this but you can use any white cabbage and even savoy cabbage ( but you will have to cook this a little longer).
My mother would have cooked this till the cabbage was very soft – I prefer to cook it for less time so the cabbage still has a little bite.
Ingredients – version 1
1 sweetheart cabbage
1 small onion – finely chopped
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
125ml of vegetable stock (can be from a cube or powder)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Method
Use a deep frying pan – with a lid.
Gently fry the onion in the butter till soft and golden.
Finely shred the cabbage.
Add the cabbage and stir.
Cook for a few minutes.
Add the caraway seeds and the stock.
Stir and bring to a gently simmer.
Put on the lid (a glass one is good) and simmer until the cabbage is soft.
Check the progress and stir a few times to make sure the liquid does not dry out.
Adjust the seasoning and serve.
Served in Royal Doulton – Carnation 1982 – 1998
Version -2
Ingredients – version 2
As version 1
Plus 125ml of soured cream
Method – version 2
As version 1 until the cabbage is cooked.
Add the soured cream, stir and cook for another minute.
I wrote a post on Caraway Seed Cake in March 2018 and in doing so found that although caraway is such a popular herb/spice in Poland and used in breads, meat & vegetable dishes, it is quite surprising that it is not used in cakes.
I looked in all my recipe books and did not find any use of caraway in Polish cakes.
Caraway – Image from Wikapedia
Caraway Seeds
Caraway seed cake seem to be a quintessential British cake and recently whilst doing some research into Victorian cooking in the north of England I came across this delicious version.
As I live a short walk away from a house that Charlotte Brontë used to visit, I was very interested to find that seed cake is mentioned in her novel Jane Eyre (1847)
“And then Miss Temple invited Jane and her new friend Helen into her parlour for tea and I began to warm up. The kindly teacher unwrapped before their eager eyes a parcel containing ‘a good-sized seed-cake’.
‘I meant to give each of you some of this to take with you,’ said she, ‘but as there is so little toast, you must have it now,’ and she proceeded to cut slices with a generous hand.
We feasted that evening as on nectar and ambrosia; and not the least delight of the entertainment was the smile of gratification with which our hostess regarded us, as we satisfied our famished appetites on the delicate fare she liberally supplied.”
This recipe has been adapted from –
Mrs Somerville’s Cookery and Domestic Economy, published in 1862 and found in – The Victorian Kitchen by Jennifer Davies BBC 1989 TV Series.
The original recipe used 10 eggs! – here the ingredients have been adjusted to 5 eggs.
How large the bowl must have been & how hard the whisking of the whites without an electric whisk.
Ingredients
225g butter
225g caster sugar
200g plain flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of cornflour
2 tablespoons of caraway seeds
50g ground almonds
5 eggs separated
Method
Pre-heat the oven to GM4 180°C.
Use a loose bottomed cake tin – 24cm in diameter.
Grease the tin and line the base with a circle of greaseproof paper.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, cornflour, ground almonds & caraway seeds.
Cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the yolks, one at a time creaming the mixture on each addition.
Fold the flour mixture into the creamed mixture.
Whisk the egg whites till firm and stiff.
Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture.
Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth over the top.
Bake for 60 minutes, check after 50 minutes and cover with grease-proof paper if necessary – to prevent burning.
Leave to cool in the tin.
Caraway Seeds are thought to aid digestion – so this is a good cake to have at the end of a meal.
Royal Albert – Primulette tea set from the 1950s.
Lead Crystal cake stand – Tortenplatte – Venus by Nachtmann(Germany).
This is another variation on the theme of kotlety mielone – Polish meatballs or as they are called in the USA – meat patties and now in England as burgers.
I got this idea from my fellow blogger – Lithuanian in the USA. In their recipe for Meatballs in barbecue sauce – instead of bread soaked in milk – oats are soaked in milk.
This sauce is one I made years ago and have just come across it in my recipe notes & cuttings – it is super – how could I have forgotten it?
Ingredients – meatballs
500g minced beef
1 beaten egg
50g rolled oats
125ml milk
1 onion
1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice
Salt
Ground black pepper
Plain flour for dusting
Butter for frying the onions
Sunflower oil for frying
Method
In a small bowl soak the oats in the milk for around 15 minutes.
*
Chop the onion into small pieces and fry in some butter until golden.
Add the caraway seeds and ground allspice and mix well together.
Leave to cool completely.
*
In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, it is best to do this using both hands, making sure that all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Pour some flour onto a large plate or board.
Take a handful of the mixture and press it between your hands to make a flattened circle, place this in the flour and turn it over to cover both sides and edges.
Once coated place them on a tray dusted with flour until you have used all the mixture up.
*
Preheat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
*
Shallow fry the kotlety in hot oil, depending on the frying pan size, you can do 4 to 5 at a time, turning them over so that both sides are done.
Place them in a large oven proof dish, which has a lid.
*
Pour the sauce over them, add the lid and put the dish into the oven.
Cook for at 75 to 90 minutes.
*
Super served with creamy mashed potatoes, pasta or boiled rice – sprinkle chopped chives or flat-leaved parsley over them before serving.
Ingredients – sauce
300ml – 500ml of lager
300ml of vegetable or chicken stock (can be from a cube or powder)
4 tablespoons of soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons of tomato purée
3 bay leaves
Method
Place all the ingredients into a sauce pan.
Heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
In the first year of writing this blog, I wrote a post – Poles love to eat cabbageand now as I am writing about soups I am going to write about a Polish classic – kapuśniak – cabbage soup.
There are two types – ones made with fresh cabbage (written about in my previous post) and ones made with sauerkraut.
Now I am going to write about ones made with sauerkraut and these are certainly soups that have the sour taste loved by Poles.
As half a large jar is enough for each of the soups, I often freeze the other half of the sauerkraut to use at a later date.
Kapuśniak – Version 1
Ingredients
400g sauerkraut
200g smoked Polish sausage
1.5 – 2 litres of vegetable stock (can be from powder or cubes)
3-4 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 large onion
Oil for frying (originally pork fat/lard would have been used)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
**
More sugar & lemon juice to adjust the sourness might be needed at the end.
Method
Chop the sauerkraut into shorter strands.
Chop the sausage into small pieces.
Into a large pot of vegetable stock add the sauerkraut, sausage, peppercorns and bay leaf
Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and allow it to simmer until the sauerkraut is tender.
Chop the onion into small pieces and fry up till nearly charred.
Stir in the flour and heat till well browned.
Add a couple of tablespoons of soup liquid and stir to get a thick roux.
Add this onion mixture to the soup, mixing it in well.
Add the sugar.
Add salt and pepper if necessary.
You might want to adjust the sourness which will depend on the sauerkraut used.
I rarely add more lemon juice but sometimes add a bit more sugar.
The soup is supposed to be a little sour!
Served here in Royal Doulton – Burgundy -1959 to 1981
Kapuśniak – Version 2
Ingredients
400g sauerkraut
1 onion chopped
100g chopped smoked bacon
2 litres of vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
3-4 peppercorns
2 large potatoes
1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds
1 – 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste
**
More sugar & lemon juice to adjust the sourness might be needed at the end.
Method
Chop the sauerkraut into shorter strands.
Chop the bacon into small pieces.
Chop the onion into small pieces
Into a large pot of vegetable stock add the sauerkraut, sausage, peppercorns and bay leaf
Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and allow it to simmer until the sauerkraut is tender.
Add the caraway seeds.
Chop the potatoes into small to medium chunks.
Add the potatoes to the cooked sauerkraut and simmer gently till cooked.
Add the sugar.
Add salt and pepper if necessary.
You might want to adjust the sourness which will depend on the sauerkraut used.
I rarely add more lemon juice but sometimes add a bit more sugar.
The soup is supposed to be a little sour!
Caraway Seeds
Served here in Royal Doulton – Tapestry -1966 to 1988
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 