11 May 2011

Fried Cabbage or Kapusta Smazona

The classic Polish dish, many would say, is Kotley Schabowe, a Polish dill pickle, boiled potatoes, and Fried Cabbage. It is a dish seen at many Polish restaurants across America and served at Polish festivals as well.

At the Polish festival when I worked at my church’s stand, the priest’s wife made this dish and it was always just like my mother made it when I was a child. The Polish immigrants could usually be spotted in the line because they would order this dish instead of Golabki, Kielbasa, or many other popular dishes.

Of course, I wouldn’t be a mama if I didn’t point out that this dish is extremely inexpensive to make. In fact, the week or two after St. Patrick’s Day, cabbage can be purchased for as little as 19 or 29 cents per pound. So, the dish could easily be made to feed 6-8 people for less than a dollar.

And I have to point out that cabbage packs a huge nutritional punch. Per cabbage head, the Percentage Daily Values are impressive, with Vitamin A at 23%, Calcium at 43%, Iron at 28% and Vitamin C at an astonishing 636%. Easy to understand why I have never heard of a case of Scurvy in East European countries where cabbage is an important part of the diet.


So, as your mama always told you, “Eat your vegetables!”, starting with cabbage.
 


 Ingredients:

1 head Cabbage
1 cup Chicken or Vegetable Broth
2 tablespoons Butter
2 tablespoons Flour
Salt,  and Pepper to taste1-2 tablespoons Lemon Juice or White or Apple Vinegar to taste
1-2 tablespoons Sugar

Optional: ½ Sweet Onion, diced (Cook in butter until translucent, if you like)
1-2 Carrots, peeled and julienned


Core the Cabbage, slice into quarters and finely shred. Place into large pot and pour in Broth. If using Carrots and Onions, place in pot at this time. Bring to boil, then cover and cook on low for ½ hour, until tender.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and whisk in butter. Pour in 1 cup of broth from cabbage pot. Whisk and cook until thickened. Scrape out into cabbage pot and mix well, cooking on medium low until all broth thickens.

Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Add Lemon Juice or Vinegar, a tablespoon at a time to your liking, I usually use 3 tablespoons. Add sugar to your liking, I usually use 1 tablespoon.
 





Serve with Beef or in the Polish Classic Dish above.

Smacznego!



5 comments:

Antoinette Musik said...

This is sooo yummy! You have inspired me for tomorrow nights dinner! Its so nice to have the ingredients in English too!
xxx

Kasia said...

Nice and easy, and mild and sweet too, I liked this even as a kid :) And they say children are picky when it comes to cabbage :o) I would stand in line to get some also :)

Ado said...

Hi Polish mama from Twitter (-:
So glad I found your blog. I love Polish food, and pickles, maybe b/c I am half-Lithuanian? Bye for now

SparingChange said...

This looks so good. Thank you for posting the recipe!

Lorie ~ Luray Lane Vintage said...

I just discovered your blog! I'm cooking Kapusta right now and wanted to see what the internet had to say about it!! And that's how I found your blog. lol. My husband is of Polish and Lithuanian descent and I have been learning all the Polish dishes his family loves to make.