Vinegret with Sauerkraut

Baking the vegetables

1. Vinegret with sauerkraut made in the morning is a perfect breakfast, and it needs very little of your time. Take the best beets you can find, almost black inside, large sweet carrots and small starchy potatoes. I recommend a purple onion that is not too sharp, and add some green onion tops to the salad. It is better to buy ready-cooked beans, because cooking them takes time and, as a rule, soaking beforehand.

   The vegetables need to be baked, because boiling leaves a watery taste. You can bake them in the oven, although we do it in the microwave, and they come out excellent.

2. Prepare the vegetables for baking: wash them and pat dry with paper towels. Pierce the potatoes and beets through in several places with a thin sharp knife, so that the steam that builds up when they heat doesn’t burst them.

   

3. Bake the vegetables in the microwave: put all the vegetables on a plate and cook on full power. Potatoes are usually ready in 8-10 mins, carrots in 12-15 mins, and beets take up to half an hour. Take the finished vegetables out one by one, when a knife goes easily into the center. By the way, it is better to slightly overbake the beets, until the surface starts to wrinkle, because they turn a little sweet.

   In the oven the vegetables take longer: at 200 °C potatoes and carrots need about 40 mins, and beets about an hour.

   

4. Cool the vegetables. In winter they cool very quickly on the balcony. Don’t chill them too much, it is better to leave them slightly warm.

Assembling the salad

1. Peel and dice the vegetables, each in a separate bowl so the beets don’t stain the others. The size of the cubes is the usual one for most homemade salads, think of Olivier salad.

3. Put the diced potatoes, carrots and cooked beans into a large salad bowl. Peel the onion and dice it into the salad too. Squeeze all the liquid out of the sauerkraut and add it to the vinegret. I suggest adding finely chopped green onion tops.

   

4. Toss the beets with oil: in a separate bowl, combine the diced beets and 3-4 tbsp of aromatic sunflower oil. A film of oil coats the beet cubes, so they don’t stain the other ingredients as much.

   

5. Salt the vinegret with sauerkraut and mix it. Add the beets tossed with oil and gently mix once more.

Serving

1. Divide the salad among small salad bowls and serve right away, before the beets stain the other vegetables. Serve fresh bread with the vinegret. By the way, it is also nice to serve a tasty lightly salted herring on the side.

   This is a very tasty appetizer with a delicate aroma of sunflower oil. The taste of sauerkraut stands out among the other vegetables. By the way, you can add even more cabbage, and the salad only gains from it.