Recipe 11
Red Cabbage, apple and fruity
For 2 persons
Like white cabbage, red cabbage belongs to the cruciferous family. Red cabbage is very rich in vitamin C and can provide a lot of potassium and calcium and appreciable amounts of iron. It contains the enzyme myrosinase, a precursor of sulforophane. Sulforophane is one of the most effective indirect antioxidants. But the thioglucosides and glucosinolate it contains also have excellent health-giving properties. Red cabbage is healthy all around.
In this European-style dish, it impresses in combination with apple, raisins, plums or apricots as a dish that is easy on the stomach. However, red cabbage is also believed to have beneficial properties against joint disease.
For this recipe you will need
½ small red cabbage
½ l water
½ red onion
1 small apple
1 grated organic lemon
30 g organic raisins, soaked
50 g dried organic plums (or other organic dried fruits, e.g. apricots, mango…)
1 tbsp. ghee or clarified butter
1 pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. honey (or coconut blossom sugar, brown sugar)
1 pinch of star anise
1 pinch of black pepper
1 tsp. Himalayan salt
To prepare, clean the halved red cabbage, e.g. the outermost leaves are not used. Then the red cabbage is cut into thin strips with a cabbage slicer or a very sharp knife. You can use the red cabbage this way or roll it a bit.
The apple is peeled, quartered and cored, then coarsely diced. The red onion is finely chopped. The dried fruit is divided into bite-sized pieces, if desired.
Put 1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter in a pan, glaze the onions and diced apples in it, add the raisins and prunes. Remove the fruity mixture from the heat to infuse. Put on a high pot of water and add the finely chopped red cabbage to the still cold water. Add the lemon zest, honey (or sugar) to the cabbage. Heat everything over medium heat for min. 30 minutes. As soon as steam rises, add the spices. Finally, add the fruity mixture to the cooked red cabbage, let everything cook together on low heat for another 10 minutes.
Note: We recommend unsulfured organic produce for the dried fruits.
Variation suggestion:
For variety, tropical dried fruits may also be used. A crunchy variation results if you spice up the red cabbage at the end with pistachios and/or with dried coconut strips.