Stewed Cabbage with Meat: Pork Belly and Prunes Recipe

Name: Stewed Cabbage with Meat, Pork Belly and Prunes
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: White cabbage 1 small head; Pork belly with ribs 400 g; Onion 2-3; Carrot 1; Prunes 100 g; Vegetable oil 2 tbsp; Bay leaves 1-2; Tomato paste (optional) 1 tbsp (17 g); Water (if there is little moisture) 1/2 cup (100 ml); Salt, ground black pepper to taste

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2 h

A simple homemade dish: white cabbage stewed with meat is one of the most affordable things you can cook, and you can make a big batch ahead, even for several days, and reheat it as needed.

White cabbage has always been a cheap food. Not only cheap, but also easy to find everywhere. There are countless cabbage recipes – I adore bigos and cabbage fritters.

First, there are endless kinds of cabbage, from head cabbage to leafy. Second, you can make dozens of dishes from white cabbage alone. Of course, the tastiest way to prepare white cabbage is to ferment it.

Sauerkraut is the most down-to-earth dish, especially as a snack. People ferment cabbage everywhere, and in very large quantities. The sauerkraut recipe is simple, and you should make plenty. For snacking. The truly German dish is Eisbein, a pork knuckle with sauerkraut, a regular at beer festivals.

Cabbage rolls in cabbage leaves are a Balkan dish in which pork and rice are wrapped in cabbage leaves. Bigos — stewed fresh and fermented cabbage, a Slavic dish where every recipe is typical of only one region and is always unique.

Most often, stewed cabbage is cooked with a lot of oil, so it is basically fried. But if you think about it, cabbage contains enough moisture to stew in its own juices. Let’s approach it creatively and make stewed cabbage with meat, with a little tomato and prunes if you like.

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Ingredients

2 servings

White cabbage 1 small head
Pork belly with ribs 400 g
Onion 2-3
Carrot 1
Prunes 100 g
Vegetable oil 2 tbsp
Bay leaves 1-2
Tomato paste (optional) 1 tbsp (17 g)
Water (if there is little moisture) 1/2 cup (100 ml)
Salt, ground black pepper to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparation

For stewing, take a small head of cabbage.
I remember the old days, when cabbage heads were soft, like a deflated football. That is how people picked them at the store and at the market: very soft was for cabbage rolls with rice, just soft was for cooking, and hard was for making sauerkraut. Today it is almost impossible to find soft cabbage. Probably because everyone got smart and now uses only hybrid-variety seeds.
Shred the cabbage thinly.
Coarse shreds are not good for stewing, the pieces turn out too rough, although shreds that are too thin will give you mush.
Cut the pork ribs or belly into small pieces, the onion into thick strips, and grate the carrot on a coarse grater.

Browning the meat and vegetables

Pour 2 tbsp of vegetable oil into a deep saute pan and brown the pork ribs or belly over medium heat until a golden crust forms.
If the ribs are fatty enough, you can brown them without oil, since they will render some fat right away.
Add the onion, then salt and pepper.
Cook the pork and onion, stirring constantly, until the onion is soft.
Add the carrot. Stir and keep frying over medium heat until the carrot is soft.
By the way, you can also dice the carrot, but then fry it a little longer, adding it together with the onion.

Stewing the cabbage

Add 1-2 bay leaves and the shredded cabbage to the meat. Just lay it on top of the meat, no need to stir.
If there is very little moisture in the pan, you can add some water, but really just a little, about half a cup.
Stew the cabbage covered, over low heat, for about an hour, stirring from time to time.
Make sure there is always a little liquid in the pan. The cabbage should stew, not boil or fry.
About 20 minutes after you start stewing, remove the bay leaf and throw it away.
The cooking time can sometimes differ considerably, so check how done the cabbage is and adjust the time. The cabbage can be soft or still slightly firm, as you like; I prefer it soft. In spring the cabbage is last year’s, “aged”, and in its own juices it takes much longer to stew: one reader needed almost three hours.

Tomato, prunes and serving

When the stewed cabbage with meat is almost ready, you can add a little tomato if you like: dilute a tablespoon of tomato paste (17 g) with boiled water or with the liquid from the pan.
The tomato is mostly there to give the dish a pleasant color. If that does not matter to you, you can go without it.
Pour the tomato into the cabbage and stir.
Add the washed prunes.
The prunes are a must. Usually prunes go into stewed cabbage at the end of cooking. But since there is no sauerkraut in this recipe, let the prunes stew with the cabbage for a while and give it the necessary tang.
Gently stir everything and stew over the lowest heat, covered, for 15 minutes.
Add more salt and pepper to taste.
The stewed cabbage is ready when there is no liquid left in it and it has all evaporated. If there is still liquid, take the lid off the pan and let the excess moisture evaporate.
Serve the stewed cabbage with meat hot.
It needs no garnish or extras, though fresh bread never hurts.