Salat z Kvashenoyi Kapusty (салат з квашеної капусти, sauerkraut salad)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A large mixing bowl
• •A sharp knife or mandoline
• •Clean hands for squeezing and tasting

Instructions

1. 1

   Taste the cabbage

   Put a forkful of the sauerkraut in your mouth before you do anything clever. If it is mouth-puckering but pleasant, drain it and keep the brine. If it is brutally salty, give it one quick rinse in cold water and squeeze it hard in your fists. Don't rinse just because it is sour; the sourness is why we are here.

   Live sauerkraut from a fridge jar or market crock will taste brighter than vinegar-packed cabbage. If vinegar-packed is what you have, cook it anyway, but dress it boldly with onion and good oil.
2. 2

   Soften the onion

   Put the onion into a large bowl with 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 tablespoon of the reserved brine. Scrunch it with your fingers until the slices turn glossy, bend at the edges, and the raw onion smell softens. Aunt Nadia would have written, "until it stops shouting," and for once she would be very clear.

   The sugar is not there to make the salad sweet. It rounds the hard edge of the lactic sourness and pulls the onion juice into the dressing.
3. 3

   Dress the cabbage

   Add the drained cabbage to the onion, then add the carrot, apple, or cranberries if you are using them. Pour over the unrefined sunflower oil and grind in black pepper. Toss with your hands, lifting and loosening the cabbage until it shines green-gold. It should glisten, not swim.

   Use the best unrefined sunflower oil you can find because it goes in raw. That smell is Ukraine in a bottle of oil.
4. 4

   Balance the bowl

   Taste again. If it feels flat, add a spoon of brine. If it bites too hard, add a pinch more sugar or another thread of oil. If it has fallen asleep, give it more onion or pepper. Let it sit until the onion and cabbage begin to smell like one thing, about twenty to thirty minutes if you need a clock, but your nose is better.

5. 5

   Finish with dill

   Fold in the dill just before serving so it stays green and sharp. Bring the bowl to the table cold or cool, with boiled potatoes, buckwheat, rye bread, roast meat, or nothing at all. This is enough for eight guests or one hungry Ukrainian.

Chef Tips

• •Look for sauerkraut made with cabbage, salt, and maybe carrot, without vinegar if you can. Vinegar-packed cabbage works, but it will need more oil and onion to feel alive.
• •Never throw away the brine until the salad is finished. It is seasoning, souring, and salt in one spoon, and it can wake a flat bowl faster than more vinegar ever could.
• •Carrot is common, apple is a bit more modern, cranberries give a red winter brightness, and a little pelustka, beet-stained cabbage whose name means petal, will turn the whole bowl pink.
• •If making this ahead, add the dill at the end. Dill gives generously, then sulks if it sits too long in salt.

Advance Preparation

• •The salad can be dressed up to 24 hours ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Add the dill just before serving.
• •If fermenting cabbage yourself, shred and weigh the cabbage, add 2 percent sea salt by cabbage weight, massage until the brine rises, then keep it submerged and ferment until properly sour, usually 1 to 3 weeks depending on your kitchen.
• •Leftovers keep for 3 days in the fridge and get sharper as they sit. Loosen with a spoon of brine or sunflower oil before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 160g)