Super Loaded Sauerkraut

    Hello :)

I am thinking of starting a new series on the blog, recipes that are healing to the body.
Because of my dermatitis and multiple allergies, I have to be wheat/gluten/dairy free, and while at first it seemed there's nothing left to eat (imagine taking away all of your fave foods overnight and having to comb through ingredients list of EVERYTHING all the time!! Long and frustrating story short, let's just say eating out fills me with fear, not glee these days)  I am slowly but surely accumulating my new fave recipes, and I thought of sharing those with you, as it may help someone out there who is in similar position to me? I would be glad if would help out at least one person out there :)
So, my first recipe is for loaded superfoods sauerkraut! I was never a big fan of it before and I didn't made it at home until I learned that is a natural source of probiotics and enzymes and I am all about healing my gut and probiotics now!  Don't get the shop bought sauerkraut, because unless it will labeled as raw, it is treated with heat, effectively killing off all the good stuff in it, plus it is made with industrial strength vinegar, something that is not good for your body. Plus is is so much cheaper to make it at home, and I promise you, it will be ten times more tasty!

So let's get started, shall we?

What you will need:
For basic recipe of sauerkraut:
Half a head of small cabbage
One large carrot
Half an onion
2tbs of Salt (I always use Himalayan pink salt)

Ingredients for pimping it: (you may add all of them or just a couple)
Apple cider vinegar
Dill - this made it on the whole new level!
Paprika
Cranberries
Celery
Sprouted quinoa
Turmeric
Spring Onions
Basil


How to make it:
Prep the vegetables, take off the top layers of the cabbage, peel the carrots and other veg and wash everything throughout. Shred or hand cut all the ingredients, put the salt on them, pound them with pestle and mortar or the end of the rolling pin or something similar and leave it to rest of 1 hour. (I want to add that you don't need any vinegar to make real kraut, as the cabbage will ferment on it's own,I only added Bragg's Apple Cider vinegar because I wanted to). After the hour has passed, squeeze the veg once more, the more juices it will make, the better! Pack everything tightly into glass jars, pressing it down a few times so the air bubbles would come out up top and wait a few days for it to ferment. It will be done on the day seven, but if you are like me, you will start eating it way sooner, because it is just too damn tasty :)
And I should add that technically this is not the correct way of fermenting, you should add something like a small plate and something very heavy on top, so the cabbage would be submerged in the liquid at all times (it can get moldy otherwise). I remember my mom used to make large quantities of it and she used bucket to put it in, then the plate and the huge stone on top. Of course you can get special jars for this purpose that would have weighted lids, but I am not buying them, because they are expensive, and I don't want my stuff to be clocking so many air miles, but feel free to buy them if you will decide to! I will think of something, I am sure of it :)
So, please let me know if you ever made your very own sauerkraut? or planning to? Let me know how do you like it, if you will decide to go for my recipe, i really want to know :)


So that is all for now :)
Lots of love,

Renata.