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This braised cabbage is a classic comfort food made in nearly every Russian or Ukrainian home and our 3 year old loves it. I received several requests for this braised cabbage recipe in the past week and Vadim just thought it needed to get done. He combined two recipes – one from his Mama and one from my sister, Tanya.
Then he set off to make it (without my help, mind you). He took the pictures and even wrote up the recipe. We just finished up the leftovers which he sautéed up while I studied for pharmacology. Great job Vadim, it was delicious!!
Ingredients for Braised cabbage:
1 Cabbage head
1/2 lb or up to 1 lb of pork
1 medium onion
2 large carrots
2 Tbsp of sour cream
4 Tbsp of ketchup
1 Tbsp of brown sugar
2 bay leaves
2 tsp of salt, divided
1/2 tsp of pepper
6 Tbsp of olive oil
How to Make Braised Cabbage:
1. Shred the cabbage into thin slices using a mandolin or by cutting it in half or into quarters then finely shredding each piece with the flat end of the cabbage against the counter. Place sliced cabbage into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 1 tsp of salt on the cabbage and scrunch the cabbage using both hands for 30 sec to soften it.
2. Dice the onion and grate both carrots. Preheat a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Saute onions and carrots for 5 min, mixing frequently. When almost done, mix in 2 Tbsp of sour cream. Empty contents of the skillet into mixing bowl with the cabbage.
4. Cut pork into small cubes. Using the same skillet, add 2 Tbsp of olive oil and cook pork for 5 min over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. When cooked through, add it to the mixing bowl with cabbage, carrots and onion.
6. Add 1 Tbsp of brown sugar, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper, 4 Tbsp of ketchup and mix all contents of the bowl together.
7. Add 2 Tbsp of olive oil to large skillet or dutch oven. And cabbage mixture and set the heat to medium. Add 2 bay leaves.
8. Cover and cook cabbage for 35-40 min, stirring every 15 min. Reduce temperature to medium-low after 20 min. Add more ketchup or salt to taste, if desired. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Notes:
Cooking time may vary – if not using a dutch oven, you may need to add an extra 5 minutes if cabbage is not soft enough.
Russian Braised Cabbage
Ingredients
- 1 med - large Cabbage head
- 1/2 lb or up to 1 lb of pork
- 1 medium onion
- 2 large carrots
- 2 Tbsp of sour cream
- 4 Tbsp of ketchup
- 1 Tbsp of brown sugar
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp of pepper
- 6 Tbsp of olive oil
Instructions
- Shred the cabbage into thin slices using mandolin or by cutting it in half or into quarters, then finely shredding each piece with the flat end of the cabbage against the counter. Place sliced cabbage into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 1 tsp of salt on the cabbage and scrunch the cabbage using both hands for 30 sec to soften it.
- Dice the onion and grate both carrots.
- Preheat a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Saute onions and carrots for 5 min, mixing frequently. When almost done, mix in 2 Tbsp of sour cream. Empty contents of the skillet into mixing bowl with the cabbage.
- Cut pork into small cubes.
- Using the same skillet, add 2 Tbsp of olive oil and cook pork for 5 min over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. When cooked through, add it to the mixing bowl with cabbage, carrots and onion.
- Add 1 Tbsp of brown sugar, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper, 4 Tbsp of ketchup and mix all contents of the bowl together.
- Add 2 Tbsp of olive oil to large skillet or dutch oven. And cabbage mixture and set the heat to medium. Add 2 bay leaves.
- Cover and cook cabbage for 35-40 min, stirring every 15 min. Reduce temperature to medium-low after 20 min. Add more ketchup or salt to taste, if desired. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Notes
Delicious! And it’s very good cold straight from the fridge. I used over a pound of ground pork (it was what I had on hand). Thx!!
I’ve never tried with ground pork but I imagine it would be yummy and would probably make a yummy sandwich too; kind of like a sloppy joe, but a sloppy braised cabbage Jo? Sorry, I’m pregnant and crave strange foods. lol.
I made this without meat (added two potatoes instead), since my husband is vegetarian and it still turned out great. This dish is also made in Moldova where I come from. The difference is we do not add any sour cream, but I think it’s tastier with it. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for sharing your variations. I love trying new ways of making things 🙂
Hi there! I’ve been looking for authentic Russian “kid food” and comfort food for my blog about childhood food traditions from around the world and this is a great recipe. Would you mind if I reprinted it with slight changes on my blog and linked back here? My blog is www.thechildrenstable.com
Charlotte
Yes, that would be great! Thanks for asking 🙂 Also, if you are going to be using the photos, please keep the current watermarks on there 🙂
Thanks!
I made this today, instead of pork I used chicken. It turned out sooooo good. Thanks a bunch!
You’re so welcome. Thanks for sharing your variation. I love to change things up and try new versions 🙂
This is some good stuff! My husband loves it when I make it.
He especially loves for me to also make ‘pustushki’, just using like pelemeni dough and pinching it off in quarter sizes(or rolling it out, then use a pizza cutter to cut small pieces) to boil in salted water, and eat it with the braised cabbage. This is what I’m making him tonight, since I already have leftover dough, and all the ingredients for the cabbage.
Do you put the braised cabbage inside or just serve with braised cabbage on the side?
Hello, Natasha!
I just finished making this for the first time, and my friend and I are enjoying it as I write this! I made slight changes since neither of us are big ketchup fans. Instead of ketchup, I used tomato paste, added just a splash of chicken broth in order to thin it to ketchup consistency, and used the full tablespoon of white sugar (since the sugar in ketchup is no longer present). Also, we didn’t have any pork to use, so we used chicken!
5 stars from both of us!
Thank you very much Keith, great way to substitute ketchup. Thank you for sharing 🙂
is it ok to put white sugar and not brown sugar? what is the difference?
Brown adds some nice color to the dish so I prefer it, but I think it would work with white sugar if you don’t have brown. You might try 3/4 tbsp white sugar instead.
Thank you! I’m Filipina and my husband is from Ukraine. We just got married so I am always learning new recipes for him! So far this is one of our staples. Cheap and easy to make! Thank you 🙂
You are welcome Larayna. This dish is my husband’s specialty, he made it numerous times :).
The dish is really yummy, I also put rice and potatoes its really good too .
Is it like braised potatoes then? Hmm, I should try that! 🙂 Thank you Valya!
Thank you for the great recipe….. My family loves it 🙂
I’m making this for my very homesick Russian husband tonight. I’m american and we met when I was a missionary in Ukraine. So, I’m glad to find your blog since he misses Russian food so much!!!
I hope the recipe reminds him of home 🙂
Even my 10-month old baby liked this cabbage 🙂 Thanks, Natasha!!!
That’s awesome!! My son loves it too.
Made this and its yummy:)
Did this last week and it was DELICIOUS! My husband ate the whole thing in one day!! Thank You Natasha!
I’m so happy to hear you and your husband liked it so much 🙂 Thanks Lana!
yummy my favorite dish =)
Hi. I was born in Ukraine and have relatives who make Russian food all the time. Since I am only 14, I have time to cook and I wanted to try out some Russian recipes. These are the recipes I have been looking for!
They’re written in English (thank you) and look very yummy. I cooked some Тушеная капуста yesterday and brought some to my Grandma’s house.
Later I got a call from her saying it was very good and she liked it, so thank you for giving us this delicious recipe! 🙂
You’re very welcome Ella. I’m so glad you tried it and your Gradma enjoyed it. Hearing that really makes my day 🙂
Mmm Mmm Mmm, I love “tyshona kapusta” my mom always makes it, but with “kvashena kapusta” and i always thought that it was so complicated to make, but it really isn’t, Thanks so much for posting this recipe, i love it, i will make it this week, i like it that this recipe calls for just fresh cabbage 🙂
Natasha may God abundantly bless you and your family.
Thank you Inna! God bless you too!
Just wanted to let you know that kutia is actually really simple to make, there really isn’t much of a recipe, just combine all the ingredients in the proportions that suit you taste and voilà. I was born in Ukraine and ever since I can remember it’s been a family tradition to make kutia for Christmas Eve dinner.
You will need:
-Cooked barley “psheno” (you can buy it in most grocery stores if not any organic store will have it for sure.)
-Canned poppy seeds (will find in the canned pie filling section of the store, this will save you a lot of time and its already sweetened.)
-Cut up walnuts (can toast them before if you want to)
-Cold water (my mom boils her water and then chills everything in the fridge but I don’t think that’s necessary, I guess old habits die hard)
-Cut up halve (optional, I actually prefer kutia without it)
-Sugar (if need more, taste before adding because the canned poppy seeds are really sweet)
Mix ingredients together. You might need to play around with the proportions of everything until you get it to the consistency you like. We never measure so I can’t really give you exact amounts. The end product should look like a soup. Chill well before serving. I think it tastes better when it’s cold.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to email me. And good luck in nursing school, I know exactly how you feel. I’m almost finished with the program myself. God bless you and your family.
Thank you Alla, I have most of those ingredients. I would like to try that recipe out when I get a chance. congratulations on almost being finished with a program. I bet that feels good 🙂 God bless you too!
My mom always used compote cherry ( or any other fruit or berries) instead of water- Amazing!
And honey instead of sugar 😉
Ooh I bet that does taste great. I have canned cherries that I made this summer; I bet the juice from that would be perfect! Thank you Lina!
Great dish! I’m Ukrainian also, and I hope you put up a recipie for Kota! I love kota, I look forward to it every Ukrainian Christmas/celebration!
I’ve never heard of it before. Maybe I have a different name for it. Can you describe it?
I think she means Kutya….its made out of wheat kernels, poppy seeds….ect.
Kutia, is made out of poppyseeds (MAK) and wheat! You could always add nuts or honey, but I like it plain. Here’s info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutia
click here for a photo: http://friendseat-images.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/12/kutia.jpg
Thank you for the links! I do kno wwhat this si now. My mama-in-law is working on getting a recipe from Grandma in Ukraine. I’ll get it posted when I get it.
Sounds like good hearty and tasty “peasant food.” Lots of cheap vegetables to stretch out a little bit of expensive meat. In other words, really good eats.
Ever notice how some of the best food is peasant food? And a lot of the expensive trendy stuff that restaurants charge out of proportion to the cost of ingredients for. Braised shanks, pork belly, risoto, coq au vin, ravioli, and the like.
I agree, there’s nothing like peasant food. It’s what most Ukrainian and Russian kids grew up on.