My Red Cabbage Dish- A Swedish Touch to The Holidays

1:15 PM Posted by jo

This Swedish Red Cabbage dish is a traditional accompaniment to the main dish during the holidays in Sweden. I make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is sweeter than the German version, and it is sweetened with red currant jelly. Back home in Sweden it was easy to find good redcurrant jelly since many grow them in their gardens and they willingly share. Here in the US I have to use the redcurrant jelly that I can find, and some years I am very fortunate to find organic jelly without corn syrup.

The original recipe calls for one medium red cabbage (I used one and a half), white wine vinegar (I am using red), freshly ground pepper, caraway seeds (optional but it adds a nice flavor), red currant jelly, one medium onion (I used one and a half), 2 medium cooking apples, and butter for frying.

I quartered the cabbage and discarded the rough steam. I sliced each quarter very thinly. I melted the butter in a dutch oven, added the cabbage, and stirred and fried on moderate heat for about five minutes. I stirred constantly.

I finely chopped the onion and peeled and sliced the apples. I added them to the cabbage on the stove.

I added 2 tsp of caraway seeds and some freshly ground pepper.

Then I added 4 tbsp of red currant jelly. The recipe states that the red currant jelly should be added the last 30 minutes of the cooking but I add it in the beginning instead.

The rest of the ingredients, onion, apples, red whine vinegar, and 3 tbsp water were added. I covered and let it all cook gently until the cabbage is quite soft, approximately for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Sometimes it dries out and more water needs to be added. I taste it and add more jelly or vinegar if needed.