the New Classy Cabbage

Cabbage and carrots, what could be a better symbol for slightly boring everyday food. At least in Finland these traditional ingredients have been a little bit unpopular for the past few years when new exiting kitchens have been introduced to us. Nowadays when people have become more and more interested in organic and/or near the home produced food homey and traditional recipes are enjoying a new renaissance. It is a huge trend to cook pure and honest home food. We are relearning our traditional recipes. High quality products offer a good base for cooking healthy food  and nothing keeps us from adding a little twist to the good old granny recipes.

Cabbage stew is quite traditional in Finland. Usually it is done by mixing white cabbage, carrots, onion, water, syrup and some spices like salt, pepper and marjoram. Most people also add some minced meat. This kind of stew is a mix of sweet (sweetness comes from the cabbage and syrup) and savory and fills your stomach well.

When I went to Chinese restaurant I had a taste of cooked Chinese cabbage. When I was young we had raw Chinese cabbage with pineapple chunks as a salad at school restaurant and I never kind of grew into like C. cabbage. Now I found this ingredient again, when it was cooked it had a completely different taste! This is were I got the idea of mixing white cabbage and Chinese cabbage. I also wanted the texture be a bit different from traditional Finnish cabbage stew and cut everything to thin slices. The little extra to the taste comes from lemon peel and juice. Here it comes: the New Classy Cabbage!

the New Classy Cabbage

Ingredients

1/2 white cabbage

1/2 Chinese cabbage

2 dl vegetable bouillon

1 onion

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 red paprika

3 small carrots

1 lemon (peel plus 1/2 of the juice)

soy sauce

brown syrup

salt

black pepper

1. Cut all vegetables to thin slices. 

2. Heat the oil in the casserole and add the onion. Let the onion get a golden color. Add some syrup and soy sauce.

3. Add the vegetable bouillon (if you are using a bouillon cube add the cube and 2 dl water). Let the mix boil and add the white cabbage.

4. When the white cabbage gets a bit softer add carrots and paprika.

5. Add Chinese cabbage and lemon peel and let the mix stew on a mild temperature. When all the vegetables are a bit al dente, spice with lemon juice, salt and black pepper. 

Ready to serve! If you make a big casserole this dish can be put to the freezer and it becomes a savior for a busy day.

What are your favorite traditional recipes? Have you noticed that once unfashionable recipes have become a new trend?

Sannu