Hunter's cabbage stew is well known in Poland and called 'bigos'. We love to prepare bigos especially in cold winter days. The greatest thing about bigos is that the longer it stays in the fridge, the better bigos taste is. Serve with white bread.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 145 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 kg sauerkraut mixed with two grated carrots and 1 Tbsp of cumin
- 300 g lean pork meat - cut into small pieces
- 200 g smoked bacon - cut into smoked pieces
- 300 g sausage - sliced
- 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 150 ml red dry wine
- 100 g dried plums
- 100 g dried mashrooms eg. edible boletus, king bolete
- 2 big onions - chopped
- 6-8 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ground cumin
- pimento
- marjoram
- rosemary
- coriander
- ground garlic
- 7 bay leaf
- sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1 l of boiling water
Method:
1. Finely chopped onion fry in a large skillet with olive oil. Keep stirring until onion is soft and translucent.
2. Pour hot water into dry mashrooms and leave aside for 10 minutes.
3. Now cook the mashrooms with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for 10 minutes.
4. Cut sauerkraut into small pieces. Add dry plums, sea salt, pepper, bay leaf, pimento, marjoram, rosemary, coriamder, garlic and cumin. Add cooked mushrooms together with their boiling sauce. Now add boiling water and cook on medium-low heat until half of water evaporates. Should take approx. 40 minutes.
5. In the meantime, in a large skillet cook smoked bacon for 10 minutes.
6. In a separate skillet fry pork and sausage together on olive oil. Add bacon and cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Move all the meat and sausage and onion into the sauerkraut and mix well. Simmer on low-medium heat for approx. 60-80 minutes or until cabbage is soft. At the end add dry red wine.
8. Heat 6 Tbsp of olive oil in the large heavy skillet and add flour. Keep stirring until mixture turns a bit brown and then immediately add it to the cabbage and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes.
9. You can serve your bigos with white bread or eat it as it is. It can stay in your fridge for a few days and it will taste better and better every day.
ENJOY!!!
