Growing up I remember that my mum used to make cabbage quite often. Remember she was never a kitchen princess and in general her dishes lacked – well – a lot really. So one of my favorites at the time was red cabbage with blood sausage. Funny enough I never realized what it was actually made of. It never occurred to me that it was – in fact – made from blood. I’m pretty sure I would have refused to eat it, had I known! Not that it would have been hard to guess with a name that has “blood” in it, but it was just one of those things I didn’t think about.
So I liked it. A lot. It seems to have lost it’s appeal to a lot of people in the Netherlands as it is a bit harder to find these days. Not that I’ve actually tried. I forgot all about blood sausage until Esmee and I made this red cabbage with apple and chestnuts. Delicious as a sidedish to – for instance – turkey or a good sausage (blood or otherwise). It’s also a very affordable dish so if you’re living on a budget one single cabbage will feed a family of four.
I added apple and chestnuts here but you can opt to go for the apple only as that is traditional, but I like to add chestnuts as the flavors work really well together.
PrintSidedish: Red cabbage with apple and chestnuts
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 people
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Cooking
Ingredients
- 1 red cabbage
- butter or ghee
- 250 gr of chestnuts (cooked)
- 2-3 apples
- 4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp of honey (optional)
- pepper
- salt
Instructions
- Slice the cabbage finely or let a machine do the work for you. Cut the chestnuts into smaller pieces, peel the apples and cut them into pieces.
- Take a big pan and melt a good size chunk of butter. Add the cabbage and fry for a bit while stirring to make sure all cabbage has a layer of butter around it. Once done add a very small amount of water into the pan. It doesn’t need a lot as the cabbage will release moisture as well.
- Let the cabbage cook till done to your liking. 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the cabbage. Add apples and chestnuts, combined with the balsamic, lemon and honey. Let it all cook together for a bit before tasting and adding pepper and salt to your liking.
Notes
You can add the apples sooner, depending on your preference. I like mine to have a bite so I add them late, but if you like yours softer, add them right at the beginning of the cooking process.
Keywords: red cabbage, cabbage, apples, chestnuts
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1 Comment
Rosa
December 3, 2015 at 12:09 pmScrumptious and wonderfully wintery! I love cabbage and especially red cabbage. A delicious side dish.
Cheers,
Rosa