Hey guys, this is Heather from healthyveganrecipes.net. Today, Iím going to share a new recipe ñ
my recipe with sauerkraut. This recipe uses sauerkraut because Phil, our resident sauerkraut
maker and we have quite a bit of it left, and tomorrow weíre heading to his parentís
place.
We are going to stay there while Phil works on some gardening videos. We actually donít
want to take the sauerkraut with us, so Iím going to try use to use it up.
If youíre looking only for this recipe with sauerkraut, you can go ahead and visit healthyveganrecipes.net
ñ Iíll post the full recipe there.
What Iím going to base this on is some beet and some potatoes. Most people when they eat
sauerkraut eat it with sausages. But donít worry, you can have it with beets and potatoes.
A nice onion always helps with this recipe with sauerkraut ñ we donít need any sausages
and we can have it in a vegan way. The first thing I did was scrubbed this potatoes ñ
theyíre actually looking a little old, probably the end of the potato batch.
I just want to show you, so you get these scars in the potatoes because normally, I
said not to peel thatís why I scrubbed the dirt off first but there are still some scarred
bit that you really donít want to eat. Just go ahead and cut that out.
So, cut all of the ìbadî bit off your potato, and then chop it up ñ the smaller the bits
are, the lesser the time its going to cook. I like to have little bite size pieces, but
go with whatever size you like.
Then with the beets ñ your need to cut-off the ends and peel, and then cut it about the
same size as the potato, same thing with the onions. So when you get everything cut-off,
just toss it in the pot and put some water up to the level of the vegetables and boil
them.
Another way to cook them, just like what Iím doing today, is add a little water at the
bottom of the pot ñ to theyíll be more steamed than boiled. The reason for this is to avoid
the nutrient to dissolve with the water. Iím also using the water as some kind of a sauce-base
for this recipe with sauerkraut.
I am also adding a little bit of salt ñ what I did here is mix the salt with some kelp
powder. Just sprinkle them here, this will also help the vegetables cook and give it
a nice rich flavor, which is going to go well with out sauerkraut.
Stir the salt all around the vegetables, and then turn the stove around to medium and out
the lid on. While that cooks, this should take about 30 minutes. Iíll tell you a little
bit about the sauerkraut.
A lot of you there are probably thinking: sauerkraut, really ñ I donít want to eat
that. I understand, I also hated sauerkraut all of my life. Phil actually made sauerkraut
a few times years ago and didnít eat it, because I didnít want to and didnít like
it.
But, I learned about the nutritional benefits of sauerkraut, so Iíve forced myself to eat
for a few time and realized that itís not that bad at all. If you actually pair it with
the right dish, it can be good.
Phil and I went to visit his sister Haley in Amsterdam this past winter, and we got
into the sauerkraut. We weíre putting in on all of our meals over there ñ we weíre
a little bit obsessed with the sauerkraut.
The reason Iím bringing this up today is because fermented foods like sauerkraut adds
a really influential nutrients to your diet. For vegans, we donít actually get a lot of
fermented foods, because the most common is yogurt.
Adding something like sauerkraut or making your all fermentations with other things is
really a good way to get some microorganisms and some nutrients in to your body. Cabbage
is actually a lot of people donít eat on its own, so making it into a sauerkraut as
like a condiment is a great way to get some cabbage into your diet.
It also smells pretty good. Take is slow, find some dishes like this that you can pair
it with, which will really be delicious. I will also mention that making your own sauerkraut
is actually pretty easy, and youíll know itís fresh and with no preservatives.
So, if enough of you leave comments, we might convince Phil to do a video on how to make
sauerkraut because he is our household sauerkraut-maker. Itís very, very easy though, Iíve watched
him do it, and I Phil confident that I can do it myself ñ I just want to leave some
jobs for him to do in the kitchen.
He gets his recipe from a book called wild fermentation. I have a link somewhere in my
website, in my book recommendations. But, if you just do a search on amazon, Iím sure
it will come up.
The fun thing about beats is they turned everything red, or in this case, orange. So, when things
are already soft, you can test that using a fork. Someone asked me recent how to mince-up
garlic really quickly ñ my answer is garlic press.
Watch ñ just scrape it up and if you like, take some out from the inside. I like garlic,
so Iím going to add some more cloves in there. Seasoning this recipe with sauerkraut is as
important as using the right ingredients to go with it.
Garlic ñalways good. Onions ñ always good.
Iím adding a little bit of apple cider vinegar in here ñ a good stuff. It goes nicely with
the sauerkraut. A little bit of nutritional yeast is also good, in Canada is like this
yellow flaky stuff, same in the states but it can be a little bit more difficult to find
in Europe.
It can also be called something else. In French ñ well the name was in French and I donít
know exactly what it means.
Iím also adding a little bit of paprika here and some oregano, for a little bit of Hungarian
feel. This brings back memories, this is some oregano that Phil grew in our garden in B.C
and I dried it and moved it across the country with me.
Iím throwing a little bit in there and some apple cider vinegar, and then give it a stir.
It needs a few minutes for the flavors to come together ñ this is really cool that
itís orange and itís making me happy for some reason.
As you know I often throw some onions over here, some things over here, but thatís good.
Making a mess I part of cooking.
After stirring, just turn the heat off and put the lid back on.
When I walk in to the kitchen tonight, I was actually planning to make this recipe with
sauerkraut with just beets, onions and zucchini. But, little did I know, thereís only one
beet left.
So, I need to change things a little bit and added the potato, but for me, I find potato
fairly heavy. I do think of then as a grain and not a vegetable ñ for some reason they
just really sit for me.
What I did to lighten this up is I got in on a bed of lettuce, and Iím also going to
throw some sprouts on top here. These are another of Philís contribution to the household
food, he grows this sprouts on our window sill.
And, the last but not the least, our star, the sauerkraut. Iím going to make a nice
big fork-full here and get that on top. I wind up with a mini-mountain of food.
Iíve got smarter ñ for myself, I use a small portion plate, and for Phil, who eats more
than I do, use a big potion plate. I will probably throw some sunflower seeds on this,
jut to get in a little bit more calories and more fat.
There we go, a lovely beet-potato-orange mixture, my recipe with
sauerkraut ñ looking lovely. You can find the recipe at healthyveganrecipes.net. I hope
you enjoy.