What is y our comfort winter food? Is it roasting chicken or meaty stew? Or maybe you are making lots of sweet pies during cold days? Everyone has their own preferences and favorite dishes that warm you up when outside is cold, and undoubtedly, such food should be warm, aromatic and delicious.
For me, one of such winter dishes is stewed cabbage. The recipe is very simple, easy to cook and affordable. White cabbage is not expensive, and nowadays available all year round.
As I already mentioned the recipe is really simple but takes time and patience to prepare, you have to stir cabbage regular so its color will be nicely dark but not burned. I used dry mushrooms along with fresh, as they add amazing flavor and unique taste to the whole dish; if it’s the right season and you are like to get fresh wild mushrooms – use it (like chanterelle or little honey mushrooms, or fresh porcini). It is a perfect vegetarian dish. If desired extra protein – serve the cabbage with roasted chicken or sausages.
Russian Cabbage stew with mushrooms
What You’ll Need:
30g dry porcini mushrooms
300g brown mushrooms, sliced
1 large brown onion, sliced or chopped
2 large carrots, grated
1kg white cabbage, shredded
100ml tomato sauce or 2 tbsp tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
150-200ml hot water
sea salt to taste
For garnish: fresh chopped dill, parsley, spring onions
How to Make It:
- In a medium bowl cover dry mushrooms with hot boiled water. Leave for 30 minutes, drain, wash, chop and leave aside until needed.
- In a large pan, heat oil and butter, add fresh mushrooms. Fry on medium heat for 10 minutes or until liquid from mushrooms is evaporated (if will be any). Season a little bit and transfer to a bowl until needed.
- In the same large pan, add a tablespoon of oil if needed, onion and carrots. Fry on medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add half of the shredded cabbage. Stir and sauté for 5 minutes more. Add the rest cabbage, tomato sauce or paste, spices, stir well and sauté on the medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring even now and then. At this step, if the cabbage begins brown too much, add a little bit of water, stir and continue to sauté.
- Add again a little bit water if needed, stir, cover with the lid and stew for 20-30 minutes more, stirring every now and then.
- When the cabbage is almost ready, add fresh and dry mushrooms. Cover and stew for 10 minutes more. Adjust the salt.
- Sprinkle with fresh herbs if desired. Serve warm with a slice of rye bread.
- Can be eaten alone or with some roasted chicken, grilled sausages.
Enjoy!
milkandbun 
Sounds wonderful..
.ive eaten enuff Russian soup to know..but my fave is the summer soup over which they pour kvass an then add sour cream. To die for. Tks for recipe! 😁🤗
Hello Joan!
Nice to hear that you not only know about Russian food but tasted some as well! 🙂 You are talking about cold soup, which is called “okroshka”, it’s really very refreshing and I love it too. Have a look at the recipe, maybe you will find kvas (in Russian stores) and prepare it. Good luck!
Have a good day,
Mila
Wonderful site..tks! I did make kvass once..when i got back to Canada..came out well but it was quite a project. U cant find the concentrate on the cape either..but the memories remain!😁🤗
The stew looks delicious. I’ve never paired cabbage and mushroom, and this definitely makes me want to! 🙂
Nice to hear! the combination is really good, and can be used as a filling for closed pies 🙂
My husband would love this! My comfort food for winter? Since I was raised in a fairly warm climate, I don’t really have a specific cold food favorite, more of a general category, like stews, soups, chili and cornbread. Which reminds me – I want some chili. ❤
Hello Glenda!
Cornbread sounds very appetizing to me. I made a simple cornbread myself a long time ago (as far as I can remember I mixed corn flour with plain wheat flour and yeast) and it would be awesome if you can share the recipe with me. 🙂 of course, if you have any tried and tested one.
Cheers,
Mila
Oh, wow. Your cornbread sounds way more complex than the American quick bread. Here’s a link to the recipe and brand I use. I must add, that I do modify it. Sorry about the imperial measurements. Here in America, someone just thought it was more than the metric system the rest of the world uses. I hope you can make heads-or-tails from it!
http://alberscorn.com/albers-corn-bread/
I like my cornbread less corny and more soft, so I change the ratios just a tad. And I like it a bit sweeter. I increase the flour to 1 1/4 cup, decrease the cornmeal to 3/4 cup, and increase the sugar to 1/3 – 1/2 cup. I would strongly suggest you try the original as written first, because I have an “Americanized” palette, and you may not like the sweet so much.
Cornbread is also great for mucking about with, especially for those us who aren’t “cooks”! I like adding cheese, creamed corn, or diced mild peppers to it. That’s when I start goofing around with the oil and milk to keep it from drying out. And those are standard additions in California. If you decide to goof around with it, I would love to hear what you would do with it!!
Thanks for reminder of Okroshka name!!😁 i luved evrything in Rus..my cookbooks r still in boxes but opening now! My all time fave is pelmeni..time consuming but worth it!😁🤗🍄
Wow I’m a huge fan of stewing cabbage but never thought of combining it with mushrooms – this is a fantastic recipe that I am absolutely going to try!
Hello Laura! how are you doing? Have you tried the cabbage stew? Can’t wait for your response how the combination worked for you; hope you enjoyed it as much as I do, especially if you are cabbage-fun 🙂
Sounds like a good and healthy stew!
Hi Nancy! If you like a cabbage itself – you need to try this recipe, it is yummy, and another good thing – that you can make a huge pot! 😀
Enjoy!