Polish Cuisine: Red Cabbage Soup

Red Cabbage Soup – Healthy, nutrient-dense, delicious, AND comforting! 

I don’t know about you, but when I see a red cabbage at the farmer’s market or in my CSA I’m immediately drawn to the deep purple color of it. After the initial seduction I am left completely uninspired and even a little intimidated by the thought of making something from it. I’m here to tell you now that this is no longer a problem! After coming up with the idea of making some traditional Polish dishes for dinner on Christmas, I knew that using a whole head of red cabbage wouldn’t be an issue. I had NO IDEA how freakin’ tasty this red cabbage soup would end up. Seriously, I don’t care what your roots are or where you’re from, you should try this!

I found the original red cabbage soup recipe on eHow, and was excited by how simple the ingredients are, coupled with the fact that it couldn’t be any easier to veganize. I didn’t change very much in the recipe, other than using two small fuji apples instead of 1 large red apple, liquid aminos instead of soy sauce, one massive tomato instead of 2, and Earth Balance instead of butter. Lastly, I used my immersion blender in the pot as opposed to transferring the hot liquid to a blender. *Edit: I’ve now made another version of Red Cabbage Soup where everything is roasted first and it is SO good!

This recipe isn’t a super traditional Polish dish, but it fit into my dinner plate just right. I topped mine with roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) to give a little crunch to the smooth soup, it was perfect. The soup was tomato-y with just a tinge of sweetness, and extremely comforting. I’ll definitely be making this red cabbage soup again, maybe doing a little more experimenting with it to see if I can make it my own. 🙂

I even did some approximate nutrition facts for you! Servings: 6, Calories: 114, Fat: 3.6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 412mg, Carbohydrates: 16g, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 9g, Protein: 3.4g, Calcium: 53.5mg, Potassium: 331mg