This past Saturday I was walking around the store Jimbos with 3 members of my meetup group (Oleg, Faye + Linda) talking about how to pick your fruits and veggies at their prime, what to look out for and then we got to show and tell: my favorite items to buy at Jimbos. If you are interested in knowing more, reach out and perhaps we can even meetup at Jimbos for a free short tour! Now, I do not work for Jimbos so I have no hidden agenda. Just me trying to be of service, to show you what you could be cooking up and still have flavor without sacrificing your health.
During the conversation walking around the store I promised all three that I would create recipes this week that balance the sour of Sauerkraut. My top 3 Sauerkraut Recipes are listed below. But stay with me here for a minute more, so I can tell you about our trip to the store.
When we got to the back right wall where all the vegan cheese and meats are, I got to talking about someone I know who is allergic to vinegar. She was always itching and didn’t know why so one by one she started eliminating possible things and she found out vinegar was the culprit!
And guess how many things have vinegar? Tons including catsup. Is it Katsup or Catsup? lol
Pickles and everything ‘pickled’ can easily contain vinegar. I pointed out that Bubbies Pickles have no vinegar, that Follow Your Heart Vegan Ranch has no vinegar and so on. (It’s funny that apple cider vinegar was just fine – no problems digesting that)!
All I can remember about saurkraut is being in NYC and eating from a street cart a hotdog with sauerkraut and mustard. Hmmm. And now being plant based, I really only have my memories to keep me warm. lol
We all know that sauerkraut is good for you because it’s fermented, so I decided to come up with a balancing act of recipes and recommendations.
I was looking at Food Hacks on the web. They say you can neutralize bitter and sour in food with baking soda. Since the PH of all things sour falls around 2 in terms of it being acidic and mouth puckering. When you add baking soda, and becomes a 9, it neutralizes those acids, neutralizing that sour taste. Science. It’s an amazing thing!
So what that tells me is: I need to look for recipes with sauerkraut and dummy them down with baking soda, so that the kraut doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the dish. Makes sense?
YES CHEF!
Well, alrighty then!
These days, recipes come to me one of two ways – either I’m craving a certain flavor and I just start creating, or I look at a bunch of recipes and take an idea from each and create my own dish from the concepts of flavor profiles.
But today, I am going to do something different: Take 3 recipes and tell you how you can transform them into plant based meals and still get all the benefits and flavor that I have, in my own recipes.
With everyone getting colds these days, Mario Batali from The Food Channel gives us a recipe for a Sauerkraut and Bean Soup. That sounds good to me! If you are plant based, just substitute Veg broth for Chicken broth, and Field Roast for any meat in the soup. I think you will find it to be tasty. And hey! If you want a less sour taste, don’t forget the baking soda!
Natasha’s Kitchen also does soup from the Ukraine. This recipe has way more vegetables, so that really makes me want to eat it. Again any time you see bacon, think “Fakin’ Bacon”, which is plant based, or grind up a small amount of Field Roast and pan sear it in some Earth Balance for flavoring. The key to using Field Roast is: Less is more. It has great flavor.
I also like The Crumbly Kitchen‘s comfort food. Nana called it Polish Haluski (Pan Fried noodles and sauerkraut) and again, if you are plant based you can substitute out the butter for Earth Balance and still have a great meal.
My own grandmother (Bubbie) took these same noodles and added instead pan seared kasha or buckwheat groats soaked in egg, added caramelized onions, some salt and pepper, and that’s a big comfort food for me as well, which is why I am probably drawn to that recipe from Crumbly Kitchen. And that’s probably why I feel so comforted by the Bubbies Brand! (Wow! I’m so analytic today)!
Hope that floats your boat and gives you some ideas on how to incorporate sauerkraut into the menu and tame it’s sour taste, if that’s what you want to do! It’s an effort to get kraut into your lifestyle, but well worth it for the benefits to your gut flora.
Healthy Happy Eating,
