Meatless Reuben or Sauerkraut Sandwich

Not sure if you could really call it a reuben, but it is definitely a sauerkraut sandwich.

As with any sandwich there are really endless possible combinations, but this is a good starting point since it is based on something that's fairly well-known.

Ingredients:

• Sauerkraut - well drained, squeezed
• Rye Bread
• Dressing - recipe follows
• (Optional) - Fried Mushrooms, Zucchini, or Eggplant

For the dressing:

• 3/4 C. Vegan mayonnaise (or make your own)
• 1/4 C. Ketchup
• 1 Tbsp. minced Dill Pickle or Relish
• 1 Tbsp. minced Yellow or Sweet Onion
• 1 tsp. Horseradish
• Dash of Vegan Worcestershire Sauce 

Sandwich Preparation:

Spread the dressing on both slices of bread.

Add a layer or two of fried mushrooms, zucchini, or eggplant.

Spread a generous amount of sauerkraut on top.

Put the second slice of bread on top of that.

Viola! Close enough to a reuben to satisfy my tastes, at least. And there should be enough dressing to make a few sandwiches.

Colcannon or Zuurkoolstamppot - Mashed Potatoes with Sauerkraut

Two of the best foods combine to form a powerful comfort food that's also high in vitamins and minerals. This is one of my all-time favorites.

Typically use a ratio around 50% sauerkraut by weight (or 25+25% sauerkraut + thin sliced cabbage) based on the weight of the potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds (~1.5 kg) peeled Potatoes
• 1 1/2 pounds ( ~700g) Sauerkraut, drained
• OR
• 350g Sauerkraut + 350g thin sliced Cabbage
• Black Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp. Salt
• (Optional) Vegetable/Olive/Coconut Oil for creamier consistency.
• (Optional) Vegan Bacon and/or Mushrooms

If you like it salty and sour, reserve the sauerkraut liquid and add it as necessary to the finished product to achieve desired taste.

Preparation:

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Add the potatoes to a pan with just enough water to cover, add the salt to the water.

Bring to a boil, reduce to medium heat, simmer until potatoes are cooked through.

Drain immediately, reserve some of the cooking liquid.

At the same time, if you are using fresh cabbage, add about 1/4 C. water to a pan, add the fresh cabbage, sprinkle lightly with salt, cover and bring it to a steam on medium heat, stirring occasionally until tender.

(The sauerkraut may be added cooked or uncooked)

Mash the potatoes to desired consistency, adding the reserved cooking liquid or sauerkraut liquid to moisten, and thoroughly mix the sauerkraut and/or cabbage into the potatoes.

Serve warm.

Kapusta z Grochem - Cabbage and Peas

A dish that appears quite commonly around the holidays for Polish families and very easy to prepare.

This is how I make it, but really you can use whatever ratio of sauerkraut and peas you prefer.

Ingredients:

• Yellow Split Peas - 1 pound (454g)
• 6 Cups of water (1,500mL)
• Sauerkraut - roughly 1 pound, drained lightly
• 2 Whole Bay Leaves
• Black Pepper to taste, if desired.

Preparation:

Soak the peas for about an hour before cooking if you like.

Bring the peas to a boil with the bay leaves and black pepper, reduce heat to low and cover.

Continue cooking until peas are tender, about 30 - 45 minutes.

Try not to stir them up much to prevent them turning to mush.

Remove the Bay leaves.

Add the sauerkraut and incorporate it thoroughly. - Doing this last is rather important in my opinion, as the acidity of the sauerkraut prevents the starches in the peas from cooking thoroughly.

Serve while still warm.

Sauerkraut Stew / Vegan Bigos

Another fairly simple recipe here.
This can be a plain Sauerkraut Stew or a Vegan Bigos (polish hunter's stew).

Ingredients:

• 27oz can of sauerkraut (or at least somewhere close to that amount), drained
• One 12oz bottle of beer (Budweiser works well, but use whatever you like just make sure the taste pairs well with the sauerkraut first)
• 2 or 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/2oz dried wild mushrooms prepared as package says and rough chopped or a couple handfuls of  fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium onion halved and thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. caraway more or less to taste.
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce (this replaces the beef stock taste, you could instead use vegan beef stock granules or cubes which are usually just dried up soy sauce, onion, garlic anyway.) 

Optional Ingredients (to make a bigos):

• vegan polish sausage
• vegan stew beef

Adjust the amounts to meet your preference, bigos and stew in general isn't an exact science anyway.

Preparation:
Fry the onions and garlic in the bottom of the pot with about 1 tbsp. of oil until garlic becomes very fragrant and the onions transparent. Next add the mushrooms and the tomatoes and cook about a minute or two. Now in goes the caraway, black pepper, drained sauerkraut, soy sauce, vegan meats if applicable, and the beer. All that remains now is letting the soup simmer over medium-low heat for about an hour to let the flavors meld and dry it up a little if it appears too soupy.

Now enjoy. This makes around 4 servings.
Oh, and don't be afraid to experiment.

Sauerkraut Pierogi

For those who don't know what pierogi are, they're a polish dumpling traditionally filled with savory or sweet vegetable or fruit based fillings like prunes or other dried fruits, cabbage, potatoes or other root vegetables, etc.

Note: This recipe does not have egg or salt in the dough. You could add a little bit of salt if you want to, but it's not necessary and neither is adding egg substitute or anything like that, egg isn't and never was needed for this dough and originally it was made egg-less. The dough sticks perfectly fine to itself with a little dab of water around the edges.


Ingredients:

Dough:

• 200g wheat flour (use whatever type you feel like)
• 120g water

Filling:

• sauerkraut
• a bit of shredded carrots - optional
• fried onions and garlic - optional
• mushrooms - optional
• fresh ground black pepper - optional
• anything else you might like to add

Preparation:
Mix the water into the flour and knead it well. The dough should be smooth and elastic when you're done. Set aside for about 30 minutes and cover with a towel so it doesn't dry. Drain and squeeze out the sauerkraut. You want it to be as dry as possible or it may get the dough too wet and cause it to fall apart. Simply mix in any spices or whatever else you plan to add for flavor, there's no need to warm the sauerkraut. Set a pot of water to boil. Roll out the dough on a floured surface as thin and as even as you can get it, about 1/8th inch. Cut out about 4 inch rounds and if possible if the leftover dough isn't too dry or tough yet repeat the rolling and cutting.  Fill the rounds with 1 heaping tsp. or so, you really don't want to overfill or you'll never get them closed right and they'll break open. Dab a bit of water around half of the edge and then fold over and press the dough together making sure it's closed up properly... or just use a pierogi press. Now the pierogi need to take a hot bath in that boiling water for a couple minutes. Drop them in 1 by 1  and they're done when they start to float. Take them out and drain them. You can eat them like this or continue on to spray a pan with a little nonstick spray, add about a tsp. - tbsp. of oil and put on medium heat. Fry the pierogi on each side until browned - about 5 minutes, it really depends on if you're using electric or gas so watch carefully. Now eat them!

This should end up somewhere around 10 - 12 pierogi, if you can manage to be efficient with your dough you might end up with more.