Braised Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage with Winter Fruits

Sweet and sour cabbage is in my earliest of memories of living on the island. As new friends and neighbours invited us to dinner, it seemed that all seemed to make it, most likely because cabbage is one of the easiest vegetables to store and is inexpensive. It didn’t matter whose house dinner was at, there would be the household recipe complementing most likely homegrown pork or chicken. Everyone seemed to have their own way of making it, and this is my over-the-years version based on those recipes. The allspice is a wonderful addition, adding a loving warmth to the dish.

Leftovers store well for up to a week covered in the fridge and reheat beautifully.

Recipe (Print Version)

Butter a 2.5-litre deep baking dish.

Ingredients

500 g red cabbage (1 small head), core removed and leaves thinly sliced (weight is simply to give approximate size)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/3 c dried cranberries or sultanas
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 T golden sugar
2 cooking apples, cored, peel left on, sliced into thin wedges – about 12-16 per apple.
1 T butter (broken into pieces)
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp salt
½ t ground black pepper
1 orange, grated rind and juice

Instructions

In the order given, layer the cabbage, onion, cranberries/sultanas, vinegar, sugar, apples, butter and allspice into a baking dish and season with the salt and pepper.
As you layer the ingredients in the order given, arrange or scatter each ingredient over the whole of the top of the cabbage and previous ingredients.
Finish by scattering with the orange rind and pouring the juice over.
Cover and seal the dish with kitchen foil and bake for 2½ hours, removing the foil for the last 20 minutes of cooking.
Seal as best you can as you are trying to keep the moisture in as the braising liquid.
Serve hot.

How To:

Prepare cabbage:

In the order given, layer the cabbage, onion, cranberries/sultanas, vinegar, sugar, apples, butter and allspice into a baking dish and season with the salt and pepper.

As you layer the ingredients in the order given, arrange or scatter each ingredient over the whole of the top of the cabbage and previous ingredients.