Yesterday, I made my mom’s super delicious Polish Kapusta (cabbage) and Breaded Chicken Patties. Trust me when I say ... yum! Bacon and Polish kielbasa (sausage) make this kapusta so flavorful! You can eat Kapusta on its own or serve it with breaded chicken patties and mashed potatoes, like my mom does.
Polish kielbasa from your local supermarket will work fine in this recipe but if you have a Polish meat market near you, definitely pick up a link or two! I was fortunate because I had some kielbasa in the freezer from when my mom came for a visit not too long ago. She has a Polish meat market near her in New Jersey that has the best kielbasa! Speaking of kielbasa, you have to check out the Kielbasa Festival "Mr. Kielbasa" mascot video at the end of my recipe! Hilarious!
I use my secret ingredient, Vegeta, in this recipe. Natalie Miletic of The Examiner said it best. “Vegeta is an all-purpose seasoning blend that can simply be described if you imagine a powdered bullion cube. Grandmother's from the region, known as nonna or baba, will testify that it offers a salty, savory addition to meals, helping to round them out and give the sense of all-day cooking, namely because of the predominant flavors of salt and dehydrated vegetables such as, carrot, parsnip, onion, potato celery, and parsley that are included in this seasoning mix.”
Vegeta seems like it has a high salt content but that is because of the dried concentration of vegetables in it. If you do not have Vegeta on-hand, I am sure you are wondering about how much salt to add, especially when you are working with raw meat and you can't taste it. So, I decided to do a little experiment to find out how much salt will be required if I am using one tablespoon of Vegeta because quite frankly, I use Vegeta in a lot of my recipes and it will be nice to give you an approximate amount.
My Vegeta vs. Salt Experiment:
I poured 4 cups of water into two separate pots. I seasoned one pot with a tablespoon of Vegeta and the other pot with a teaspoon of salt. The salted water tasted like it had a similar amount of salt as the Vegeta-seasoned water.
Based on my taste experiment, I am going to estimate that for one tablespoon of Vegeta, you will need one teaspoon of salt. I could be wrong and I apologize if I am but that is what my taste buds are telling me.
Mama Jozefa's Polish Kapusta
You will need for 4 servings:
- 1 head of green cabbage, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 2 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 4 strips of bacon, chopped
- 1-2 links of Polish Kielbasa (sausage)
- About 1/3 cup of dill, finely chopped
- Water (about 16 cups-8 cups to preboil the cabbage and another 8 cups for stew)
- 2 Tbsp. of Vegeta seasoning
- 1 Tbsp. of butter
- 1 Tbsp. of flour
- Salt and pepper
Hardware:
- 1 large pot for soup
- Small frying pan
- Cheese grater (optional if you purchased shredded carrot)
- Small plate
- Paper towel to drain bacon fat
Directions:
Prepare the cabbage:
- Discard the wilted layers and cut the cabbage in half.
- Then, cut each piece into half again.
- Take each wedge of the cabbage head and cut the core out by laying it flat and cutting diagonally.
- Roughly chop the cabbage and place it in a large pot.
- Cover with about 8 cups of water and bring to boil on medium heat.
While the cabbage is coming to a boil, prep the vegetables:
- If you are working with whole carrots, peel and shred them.
- Carefully peel the skins off of the tomatoes and roughly chop them.
Now, for the bacon:- Heat up a small frying pan.
- Cut up the bacon into small pieces and fry them until crispy.
- Cover a plate with a paper towel and place the crispy bacon bits to drain the fat. Set aside.
Back to the cabbage:
- Once the cabbage is boiling, drain the water and cover the cabbage with fresh water-about another 8 cups.
- Add a pinch of pepper and 2 Tbsp of Vegeta and bring to a boil. If you do not have Vegeta, season the cabbage with salt according to your preference.
- Once the cabbage is boiling, add the dill, tomatoes, kielbasa, and carrots. Cook for 30 minutes.
- Towards the last 5 minutes, make a roux to thicken the stew.
Roux:
- Heat up a small frying pan and melt 1 tablespoon of butter.
- When you see the butter bubble, add 1 tablespoon of flour and stir until combined. It should turn a beige color.
- Pour the roux into the cabbage and stir. Cook for additional 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, toss in the bacon, stir, and put a lid on the pot to keep it warm.
Breaded Chicken Patties
For 4 patties, you will need:
- 1 lb. of ground chicken
- 1/2 of a small white onion, finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp. of butter
- 2 eggs, one for meat mixture and another for bread crumb coating
- 3/4 cup of plain bread crumbs for meat PLUS 1/2 for bread crumb coating
- 1 Tbsp. of Vegeta
- Salt and Pepper
Hardware:
- Large frying pan
- Large bowl
- 2 small plates
Directions:
- Finely chop the onion and saute it with 1 tablespoon of butter until tender and slightly caramelized. Allow it to cool before adding it to the meat mixture.
- In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, one egg, 1 tablespoon of Vegeta or 1 teaspoon of salt, 3/4 bread crumbs, pinch of pepper, and the sautéed onions.
- Separate the meat mixture into fours, roll each section into a ball, and then, flatten each ball into a disk about 1 inch thick.
- Heat up the large frying pan on medium-high heat.
- Take 2 small plates and pour 1/2 a cup of bread crumbs on one and crack an egg in the other one. Season the egg with a dash of salt and pepper.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter into the skillet.
- As the butter is melting, beat the egg with a whisk or a fork.
- Dip one chicken patty at a time into the egg, completely covering it then dip it into the bread crumbs, also covering it entirely.
- Transfer to the frying pan. Fry the patties about 5-7 minutes on each side.
Serve the patties along with a scoop or two of the kapusta. My mom also serves chunky mashed potatoes to soak up the wonderful kapusta juice.
For this week, my class assignment was to include a video so naturally I tried searching for something relevant to my blog entry but when nothing really interesting came up for "kapusta", I searched "kielbasa" and found out there is an annual Kielbasa Festival in Plymouth, Pennsylvania and...there's a mascot!
I am still on a cupcake mission. I have not found a recipe that caught my eye yet but if you have one, please share! I think what I am ultimately going to do is just use plain ‘ol cake mix from a box and maybe give Alton Brown’s frosting recipe another try only decreasing the powered sugar from 1 pound to half a pound. I will keep you posted!
