Blaukraut

A closeup of my cooked blaukraut. — This is a traditional German veggie dish with sweet-sour properties that always taste candy-like to me. There is a great quality to well made cabbage dishes that reminds me of Bavaria and the coolness of seasons as summer moves into autumn. Photo by PattyCooks.

[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[x] Vegetarian + Vegan + Pescatarian: use a veggie instead of beef broth
[x] Weight Maintenance: to lower calories, red wine vinegar not wine
[x] Keto Diet
[x] Mediterranean Diet
[x] Lectin Avoidance
[x] Oxalate Avoidance
[x] Purine Avoidance

This is a traditional German veggie dish, a braised red cabbage, with sweet-sour properties.

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: German

Keyword: braised red cabbage, braised cabbage, blaukraut

Servings: c

Calories: 118kcal

Author: Patty

Equipment

Stovetop braising pan and lid
Veggie peeler
Knife
Measuring Cup

Ingredients

1 small head sliced red cabbage
4 T apple cider vinegar
2 Tart Apples cored peeled, cubed Pink Lady or Granny Smith apples
½ white onion diced medium
1 T olive oil
1/2 C beef bouillon Mix in water or stock
1/2 t Kosher salt
1/2 t pepper
1 t sugar 16c, 4.2k, 0p, 0f
3 oz red wine 250c, 7.68k, .2p, 0f

Instructions

First wash hands and veggies. Setup a veggie work station. Put a beef bullion cube into 1/2C water and mash with a fork, then set aside.
Chop the cabbage into four wedges, then slice thick or thin as you prefer. (Do not use the very thick white core of the cabbage, save that for a stir fry or roasted veggie dish.) I prefer to slice thin as red cabbage is tougher than green cabbage and will cook better if thinner. Put the chopped cabbage in a bowel and sprinkle 4T vinegar over the cabbage and mix by hand and set aside.
Remove the core of the apples, peel and cut into 1/2” cubes. (Save the apple peels to make your own apple cider vinegar or Spa Water.) When I last saw my Oma cook this dish she grated the apples, but really there is no need, they will disintegrate into the dish leaving a touch of sweet-tart flavor. (Do it either way.) Mix the apples in the cabbage bowl, again by hand to make sure it is fully combined.
Peel and dice onions. Heat oil in a large sauce pan and sauté the onion until translucent. Then add the cabbage/apple mix, the broth, and combine with salt, pepper and sugar. Cover and simmer for ~20 minutes. At 20 minutes stir the mixture and add the red wine, cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
At this point the apples should mainly disappear into the food, the cabbage should be tender but not mushy, and the liquid absorbed so the mixture looks glossy. (If you have lots of water left, but the food is ready, drain and save the liquid for your vinegar friends, like mine, who will drink the juice.)
Season with additional vinegar, salt and pepper to final taste. Serve warm.

Notes

This is called blue cabbage because the cabbage runs from bluish to reddish in color depending upon the soil acidity/alkaline state. The more acidic the redder, the more alkaline the bluer. Also as the cabbage is cooked the acidic caused redness will turn blue which is why acid (vinegar) is added to keep the red color. Southern Germany harvests blueish cabbage and Northern Germany it is more red.

You can make this dish as vinegary as you like, I like a milder taste that has a hint of sweet from the apple/sugar. You can also skip the wine and just add the same amount of red wine vinegar.

Another option is to add a bit of orange juice (~4T) to up the citrus if you like.

Finally, some add grated nutmeg and ground cloves (pinch each) toward the end of the dish to make it taste a bit more “candy like.”

Nutrition