Today’s theme for Vegan MOFO is “recreate a dish from your childhood”. I thought of lots of things I could recreate, but then realized that I didn’t like a lot of them. You know, the meatloaf, stuffed green peppers and such. To this day, I kind of hate green peppers because of that.
But then I remembered one thing that I’d liked, that my mother called “kapusta”. My mother’s family was Polish, so we had a lot of stuffed cabbage, pierogi, and kielbasa. I looked up kapusta to make sure I was remembering it correctly, and it seems that she had been putting her own spin on it also. So this is my spin on my mother’s spin on traditional Polish kapusta. (Any Polish friends out there, let me know if this is another actual dish, rather than the kapusta that I’m remembering!)
Kapusta is the Polish word for cabbage, and apparently the full name of this dish is Kapusta kiszona duszona. It traditionally has cabbage and/or sauerkraut, bacon, mushrooms and onion, salt & pepper. The dish that I remember eating was egg noodles with cabbage and sauerkraut, sausage and onion.
I have made mine slightly differently, and it was still good, filling, comfort food.
Sauteed onion and vegan sausage (I used Tofurky but would also love it with Field Roast), a little sauerkraut (which still gives the cabbage), and arugula for a little added green, mixed with pasta. A dash of caraway seeds, and lots of salt and pepper, topped off with a drizzle of lemon juice.
Making it again, I’d use more sauerkraut for a tangier flavor, and more lemon juice tossed through the whole dish. Let me know if you make this ~ I’d love to hear how it goes!
Back again tomorrow!
Kelli's Vegan Kitchen 
It sounds yummy!
Thanks Sal, it is good!
My Aunt Sophie made kapusta. I loved it. Hers was the traditional description. I once made it without bacon & it was close enough. Needs good strong mushrooms. I’ve been thinking of it again, THANKS for the push to cook it.
Happy to help 🙂
all about the kraut
🙂